On A Clear Day
by Courteney
Summary: It is the start of Harry and co's fifth year and Dumbledore has decided to re-sort everyone...Harry is now in Slytherin with Draco and has come up with a plan to prove Sirius' innocence - but he needs Draco's help..eventual SLASH but not yet.
1. A Change Is As Good As A Holiday

DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine, they belong to JK Rowling.  
  
READ THIS FIRST: There is no slash (a relationship between two males or two females) in this chapter, but eventually there will be slash but that chapter will be clearly marked, so if you don't like it, you can stop reading then.  
  
This story begins on the first day of Harry's fifth year at Hogwart's.  
  
~ Chapter One : A Change Is As Good As A Holiday ~  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat with the rest of the fifth years at the Gryffindor table impatiently waiting for the sorting to occur. Dumbledore wasn't even in the Great Hall yet so they didn't hold out much hope that it was going to begin anytime soon.  
  
"I'm starving!" Ron moaned, resting his head on this hand. "What's taking so long?"  
  
"I hope it's nothing serious," Hermione said, wrinkling her forehead in concern. "But what's really weird is that they haven't chosen the prefects yet."  
  
"Who's the head boy?" Ron asked. They knew Angelina was Head Girl, because she was sitting near them, proudly displaying her badge, but they couldn't see who was head boy.  
  
"Probably someone we don't know very well," Hermione replied.  
  
Harry didn't say anything. Ron and Hermione had noticed the change in him as soon as they'd met up with him at Platform 9 ¾ (he hadn't gone to the Burrow that summer). He was quieter, but when he did speak it was with a cynical sarcastic edge that hadn't been there before. It was as if Cedric's death at the end of their fourth year had broken something beautiful in Harry. Even after all he'd suffered at the hands of the Dursley's, Harry had still retained his innocent belief in people and in life. Now he seemed to have lost that.  
  
Harry was staring directly in front of him, not seeing anything. He'd started putting Cedric's death and his part in Voldemort's return behind him and he'd finally felt like he was moving on but now that he was back at Hogwart's, it was all rushing back to him. He could hardly bear to even look at the Hufflepuff table.  
  
The door to the Great Hall opened and Dumbledore strode in with a determined glint in his eye, quite unlike the amused twinkle that usually resided there. He was followed by Professor McGonagall who led the line of first years into the hall. Dumbledore sat down in his usual seat and the sorting began as usual.  
  
Harry took no notice of the sorting and did not clap as his housemates did when a new student was sorted into Gryffindor. He was still staring straight ahead but now he was aware that he was staring at Draco Malfoy. The blonde boy was staring back at him. The strange thing was neither of them was glaring or scowling at the other, both kept their expressions carefully neutral. It was almost as if they'd silently agreed to a staring contest across the Great Hall. Their gaze was broken as Dumbledore stood up to speak and Harry, for the first time that evening, took notice of what was happening.  
  
"My dear students, welcome back to another year at Hogwart's," Dumbledore said warmly. "I fear that this year may be a very difficult one for us all. As those of you who were here last year will remember, Voldemort has risen again. Many innocent people have been attacked during the summer and many Muggleborn witches and wizards have had to go into hiding with their families to avoid such an attack. Therefore, I feel that I need to take action to avoid history repeating itself and to help people back onto the right path. So this evening, every student from second year to seventh year will be re-sorted into new houses."  
  
All of the students gasped in horror. Well, all except the first years, who didn't understand what the big deal was.  
  
Ron and Hermione stared up at Dumbledore in shock. He couldn't seriously mean it. Obviously he did because Dumbledore already had all the second year students up the front and McGonagall was re-sorting them. Some were crying as they made their way to their new house tables. When the fourth years were sorted, Ginny ended up in Ravenclaw, which pleased her and her brothers.  
  
After a long wait it was the fifth year students turn to be resorted. Harry stood next to Ron and Hermione, not noticing that they were holding hands and praying that they would be in the same house. He didn't really care what house he went into this time. He remembered how differently he had felt the last time he was sorted. It all seemed so trivial now, so unimportant.  
  
"Brown, Lavender," McGonagall called out. Lavender walked up and sat trembling as the hat was placed on her head.  
  
"Ravenclaw" the hat cried. Lavender smiled and skipped over to her new table.  
  
"How did a fruitcake like her end up in Ravenclaw?" Harry muttered as Ron and Hermione stared at him.  
  
"Crabbe, Vincent," McGonagall continued. He trudged up to the seat, which groaned as he sat down.  
  
"Gryffindor," the hat said merrily. For the second time that evening, the entire school stared in shock as Crabbe walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Ron scowled over at him.  
  
"This is wrong on so many levels," he complained bitterly.  
  
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin," McGonagall called. Justin walked up and confidently sat down on the seat.  
  
"Slytherin," the hat cried as Justin's face fell.  
  
"Oh no," breathed Hermione. "He's too nice for them, he's going to get eaten alive."  
  
"But the Slytherins are all being re-sorted too, so they probably won't be there," Harry pointed out.  
  
"Finnigan, Seamus," McGonagall said, relentlessly continuing the sorting. Seamus did not seem as effervescent as he usually did as he sat down on the seat.  
  
"Slytherin," the hat said loudly.  
  
"Seamus? In Slytherin?" Ron sounded scandalised.  
  
"At least Justin now has a friend in there," Hermione said soothingly.  
  
"Goyle, Gregory," McGonagall said. Goyle sat down as heavily as Crabbe had and everyone held their breath, waiting for the stool to break.  
  
"Ravenclaw," the hat cried.  
  
If Crabbe getting sorted in Gryffindor had surprised everyone, then Goyle getting sorted into Ravenclaw shocked the pants off them. How on earth did such an idiot get sorted into the house renowned for it's intelligence?  
  
"Granger, Hermione," McGonagall said firmly. Ron squeezed her hand and she walked up and sat down.  
  
"Ravenclaw," the hat said brightly.  
  
Ron breathed a sigh of relief. If she couldn't be in Gryffindor anymore, then Ravenclaw was the next best thing.  
  
"Longbottom, Neville," McGonagall called out. Neville looked resigned as he sat down.  
  
"Hufflepuff," the hat cried.  
  
Neville smiled bravely and sat down at the Hufflepuff table.  
  
"Malfoy, Draco," McGonagall said. Draco strutted up to the stool and sat down.  
  
"This ought to be good," Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"Slytherin," the hat cried. The hall erupted in a rage of fury that Draco could be sorted into his own house but everyone else was in a new house.  
  
Dumbledore stood up and held up his hands for silence. "The possibility of being sorted into your first house was always there, but the hat takes into account all that has happened to you since you started here at Hogwart's. Many of you have changed and grown a great deal since you arrived here and the hat will sort through all that to determine the best place for you now. Mr Malfoy is obviously already in the house that meets his needs right now."  
  
Draco had since gone to sit smugly at the Slytherin table as Justin and Seamus glared at him from across the table.  
  
"Parkinson, Pansy," McGonagall called out after Dumbledore signalled for her to continue. Pansy waltzed up to the stool, confident that she would be sorted into Slytherin with Draco.  
  
"Hufflepuff," the hat cried as Pansy screamed in rage. She walked over to the Hufflepuff table, sat down and buried her face in her arms, sobbing as if the world was ending.  
  
"Patil, Parvati," McGonagall called. Parvati sat down nervously.  
  
"Hufflepuff," the hat cried.  
  
"With Pansy? I'd rather die," Parvati declared as she reluctantly sat down at the Hufflepuff table.  
  
"Patil, Padma," McGonagall said loudly. Padma sat down and clenched her hands together.  
  
"Hufflepuff," the hat cried as both Padma and Parvati squealed in delight to be in the same house.  
  
"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called out. Harry walked up and sat down, his body language clearly conveying that he did not care what happened.  
  
"Slytherin," the hat cried. Harry mechanically stood up and went to sit at the table. Justin and Seamus stared across the table at him in shock. He had sat down next to Draco Malfoy, his nemesis, his archenemy. Harry didn't notice this or the shocked whispers of everyone in the Great Hall. Even Professor McGonagall looked taken aback that The Boy Who Lived had been sorted into Slytherin, Voldemort's old house.  
  
"Thomas, Dean," McGonagall called out when she had recovered her senses. Dean sat down, anxiously awaiting his fate.  
  
"Hufflepuff," the hat said brightly. Dean sagged with relief and made his way over to the table to sit with Neville.  
  
"Weasley, Ronald," McGonagall called out. Ron sat down on the stool and smiled at Hermione.  
  
"Hufflepuff," the hat cried. Ron gasped in dismay. Not only had he been separated from both of his best friends but he'd also been sorted into the most ridiculed house in the school. At least he could sit with Dean and Neville.  
  
It was another long wait until the seventh year students had been sorted. Finally it was the twin's turn.  
  
"Weasley, Fred," McGonagall called out. Fred swaggered up the stool and sat down.  
  
"Slytherin," the hat cried. Both Fred and George's identical faces dropped. Slytherin? They'd be disowned! Fred sat down next to Harry, muttering about the injustice of it all.  
  
"Weasley, George," McGonagall said. George sat down, confident he'd be placed in Slytherin too.  
  
"Ravenclaw," the hat cried.  
  
"What?" Fred and George yelled simultaneously.  
  
"The hat has made its decision, boys," Dumbledore said gently and George sat down next to Ginny, still fuming over being separated from his twin.  
  
"Your belongings have been moved into your new houses. It is my hope that by mixing you all up, new friendships and new alliances will be made, drawing everyone closer together and helping people to choose the path of light rather than the path of darkness. Now I think we have waited long enough," Dumbledore clapped his hands and the feast appeared before them.  
  
It was a few minutes before anyone started eating. The shock of what had happened was too much to take in all at once. Eventually a few people started eating, which encouraged others to pick up their forks and dig in.  
  
"I can't believe I'm surrounded by Gryffindor's," Draco drawled morosely as he stabbed a bean with his fork.  
  
"I can't believe you won't shut up about it," Harry said flatly. He hadn't touched the food.  
  
"Aren't you going to eat something?" Draco asked Harry curiously.  
  
"Worried about my health, are you Malfoy?" Harry snapped.  
  
"No. But I can't fight with someone who doesn't have the strength to fight back," Draco said angrily.  
  
Harry started laughing. "Draco Malfoy, concerned with fair play, now I've heard everything!"  
  
Draco glared at him and turned his attention to his meal.  
  
"You know, now that you're in the same house, you're not enemies anymore," Justin pointed out.  
  
Draco scowled. "Shut up, Hufflepuff boy."  
  
Ron, meanwhile, was staring across the sea of faces at his girlfriend. He and Hermione had only been together for about two weeks. She had come over to stay for the last two weeks of the holidays. Harry had been invited too but he hadn't replied to any of their owls all summer. Ron and Hermione had been upset by this but were trying to be understanding. After all, Harry had witnessed the death of someone he had known and respected.  
  
Hermione blew Ron a kiss and he smiled. Hermione was sitting with Ginny and George. Ron was glad she had friends she could trust in her new house. Ron hated the fact that Goyle was sitting across from her almost as much as he hated the fact that Pansy was sitting next to him. How that had happened was beyond him. She was still sniffling, but seemed resigned to the fact that she couldn't be near her Draco as she called him.  
  
At the end of the meal, Draco strutted off towards the Slytherin dungeons with the new Slytherins following along behind him.  
  
~ to be continued ~ 


	2. Settling In

~ Chapter Two : Settling In ~  
  
The new Slytherins gasped in shock at their first glimpse of their new common room.  
  
"It's so dull and dreary," complained Seamus.  
  
Harry glanced around, it hadn't changed since he and Ron had entered after taking Polyjuice Potion. The stone walls and floor were just as dark and drab as they had always been. The only thing adorning the walls were five or six mirrors hanging in various locations around the room. Green leather armchairs and sofas were scattered about the room with matching green tables and lamps beside them. Since it was in the dungeon there were no windows, and the dark colour scheme made it seem smaller than it actually was.  
  
"Hey!" Draco said indignantly. "I'm sure this common room is far more luxurious than the Gryffindor common room!"  
  
"Oh it is," Fred replied with a grin. "But the Gryffindor common room is cosy and warm. This place is as cold as a tomb."  
  
Draco opened his mouth to argue but clearly decided not to bother as he turned abruptly and stalked up the stairs to what was evidently the boys' dorm.  
  
Harry, Justin and Seamus followed slowly, none of them eager to find out if the dorm was as monotonous as the common room.  
  
Draco was flopped on what was obviously his bed with his eyes tightly shut.  
  
"It's not a dream, Malfoy," Harry taunted the blonde boy.  
  
Before anyone knew what had happened, Draco was on his feet with his wand aimed at Harry's heart.  
  
"How easy would it be, Potter, for me to kill you in your sleep?" Draco drawled icily.  
  
"I'm sure your master would be pleased," Harry replied just as coldly, not moving to draw his own wand.  
  
"I answer to no one," Draco snapped, his eyes flashing angrily as Seamus and Justin watched warily.  
  
Harry merely raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What the hell would you know, Potter?" Draco retorted as he threw his wand aside and started to mutter to himself as he got ready for bed. "....think you know everything and if you don't know, you think you have the right to go poking into other people's business just because you're the Boy Who Fucking Lived...."  
  
Harry raised his other eyebrow at this and glanced at Seamus and Justin. "I think this is going to be rather fun."  
  
They grinned at him and started to prepare for bed as Draco glared around at them all one more time before viciously pulling the curtains around his bed.  
  
That night, all four boys hardly slept a wink.  
  
Seamus and Justin were waiting for the inevitable confrontation between Draco and Harry.  
  
Draco was plotting ways to humiliate Harry the next day.  
  
Harry was plotting ways to annoy Draco the next day.  
  
By the time the sun rose, the boys were exhausted and a little disappointed that nothing had happened during the night. They dressed in silence for a while until...  
  
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to wearing a green and silver scarf and tie," moaned Harry.  
  
"They match your eyes," Draco said without thinking.  
  
Harry, Justin and Seamus stared at him. Draco stared back for a moment before realising what he'd said. He grabbed his robe and scarf and ran from the room.  
  
"Well, that was weird," Harry finally commented.  
  
"He's right though," Seamus said thoughtfully, his eyes flicking between Harry's eyes and his scarf.  
  
"What?" Harry asked, amazed at where this conversation was going. "Never mind, I don't want to know. Let's go."  
  
Breakfast was a strange affair, sitting at a different table, without his closest friends. Harry waved to Ron and Hermione as he walked in and sat down next to Fred. Draco was seated at the opposite end of the table, with the first years. He looked incredibly annoyed by the inane chatter of the eleven year olds, something which pleased Harry enormously.  
  
"Could I have your attention please?" Dumbledore asked. "Just a few announcements. Classes will begin tomorrow. Today you will be confined to your house common room and dorm so you can get to know each other better. The library will be closed until tomorrow and any students caught out of their houses will be given a week's detention and their house will lose 50 points. Have a great day."  
  
Harry grinned as he looked over at the Ravenclaw table and saw Hermione talking furiously to Ginny, most likely about the library being closed today. Seamus, Justin, Fred and himself were just glad that classes weren't starting today.  
  
Back in the Slytherin common room Draco was nowhere to be seen. Most of the other Slytherins were in their dorm rooms so it was only Fred, Seamus, Justin and Harry in the common room.  
  
"I hope the little bugger gets caught," Seamus said rubbing his hands together with a sly grin.  
  
"I don't," Justin replied. "He'll lose Slytherin 50 points if he does."  
  
"Oh yeah," Seamus said despondently.  
  
"I have an idea which will annoy the hell out of Malfoy and Snape at the same time. Are you guys in?" Harry asked, grinning wickedly.  
  
"Always," replied Fred, grinning back.  
  
"Of course," Seamus said indignantly, as if Harry even had to ask.  
  
"Okay," Justin replied, a little more cautiously. He hadn't been involved in any of the pranks or mischief that Fred, Seamus and Harry had been involved in over the years.  
  
Fred threw his arm around Justin's shoulders, "Don't worry, we'll make a prankster out of you yet."  
  
"So what's the plan Harry?" Seamus asked enthusiastically.  
  
"We are going to do a little redecorating," Harry said slyly.  
  
"Huh?" Seamus didn't get it, but Fred's grin widened.  
  
"I love it," Fred said.  
  
"What?" Justin and Seamus said together.  
  
"We are going to redecorate the Slytherin common room to make it lighter, brighter and more comfortable and unlike a prank that only lasts a short time, we are going to leave it like that forever. Plus, Hermione taught me a charm last year that can make mirrors look like windows, showing what's outside," Harry explained.  
  
The four boys grinned at each other and got to work. Harry started charming the mirrors hanging around the walls while Fred transfigured the stones that made the floor into polished wooden floorboards.  
  
"We really need to change the colour of the walls," Seamus said as he looked around. "These stones are so depressing."  
  
"George and I know a colour changing charm that you could use," Fred said and told Seamus the charm. Seamus set to work changing the colour of the walls every few minutes to find one that worked. Justin used the same charm to change the colour of the armchairs, sofas, tables and lamps. Harry finished with the mirrors and started helping Justin.  
  
The common room door opened suddenly and the four of them froze and stared expectantly at the door. Draco stormed inside and then stopped in surprise. The walls were currently a bright shade of orange, the sofas were violet and the lamps were sunshine yellow.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he finally asked. Harry stepped forward, stopping two feet directly in front of the blonde.  
  
"Redecorating," Harry replied sweetly. "Don't you like it?"  
  
"It's hideous," Draco spat out. "If you're going to change the colour scheme, at least choose colours that work together. This all clashes." He waved his arms around to indicate all the mismatched colours.  
  
"Alright, if you know so much about it, what colour should they be?" Harry asked challengingly.  
  
"First of all, this is the Slytherin common room, so it has to be decorated in silver and green," Draco started, his eyes never leaving Harry's. "The walls should be a middle shade of green, not too light and not too dark, and the ceiling should be a paler green. The wooden floorboards are good, so they can stay and the wooden doors match the floor so they can stay. But you need green and silver rugs on the floor. The sofas and armchairs should be a darker green than the walls but not too dark. The tables and the desks should match the floor and doors and the lamps should be silver. The wooden parts of the chairs at the desks should match the floor and the cushioned parts should match the sofas. The mirrors are an excellent touch. They make the room come alive."  
  
Harry stared at Draco as the blonde stopped talking. Fred, Seamus and Justin had worked while Draco described the room and it now looked just like he'd described. The room was now so much lighter than before and much more homely.  
  
"How do you know so much about this?" Harry asked finally.  
  
Draco let himself fall onto the nearest sofa before he answered, "My mother. She redecorates the Manor every summer."  
  
Fred, Justin and Seamus had started a game of Exploding Snap and were sitting at the desks at one end of the room. Harry sat down next to Draco on the sofa.  
  
"Well....uh....thanks for your input," Harry said at last, being careful not to look at Draco. He stared straight ahead at a mirror, which showed Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was currently pouring some sort of gelatinous muck into Fang's bowl.  
  
"Well, I couldn't let you leave it the way it was. We all would have gone blind," Draco drawled, though not as coldly as usual. What on earth is wrong with me? He wondered. First there was that comment about Harry's eyes and now he was having a civil conversation with Harry Fucking Potter of all people.  
  
"So, Potter, want to duel?" Draco asked casually. Harry glanced over, seemingly unsurprised by the suggestion.  
  
"Sure," he replied, drawing out his wand. Draco pulled his out of his pocket and hid a grin. He had spent every summer since he'd started at Hogwart's learning curses. Potter didn't stand a chance.  
  
The two boys stood up and faced each other. Justin glanced up and saw the two of them circling each other with wands ready. He nudged Fred and Seamus and their game of Exploding Snap lay forgotten on the table and the three of them watched Harry and Draco.  
  
Draco cast a particularly dark curse at Harry as the three spectators gasped. They didn't know what it was but it sounded bad.  
  
Harry looked almost bored as he blocked the curse and cast a different, yet just as dark, curse at Draco.  
  
Draco looked stunned at this and had to scramble to cast his own blocker. Harry Potter using dark curses? Would wonders never cease?  
  
Harry hid a grin. Sirius had sent him a book of dark curses at the start of the summer along with a spell which would confuse the sensors the Ministry of Magic used to keep tabs on the underage use of magic. He'd been practicing all summer and now it was paying off.  
  
Harry took advantage of Draco's confusion and cast another curse. This one hit it's target and  
  
Draco fell down in a quivering mess.  
  
"Finite Incantatum," Harry said, pointing his wand at Draco. "That was fun, Drac. We should do it again sometime."  
  
Draco glared up at Harry, "Don't call me that, Potter."  
  
Harry merely grinned down at him. Justin, Seamus and Fred returned to their card game, since it was obvious the show was over.  
  
"And since when did you become so aggressive?" Draco enquired.  
  
"Since I watched an innocent person die because of me," Harry replied flatly as he dropped back down on the sofa.  
  
"I highly doubt that Diggory was innocent. Didn't you see all those girls with him wherever he went?" Draco said with raised eyebrows as Harry glared at him.  
  
"You know what I meant," he snapped. "He didn't deserve to die, now you on the other hand...."  
  
"I what? No, come on Potter, finish what you were saying. I deserve to die, is that it?" Draco sounded vaguely hurt although Harry couldn't fathom why.  
  
"I don't know why on earth I'm talking about this with you," Harry said wearily, running a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and lay his head back on the sofa  
  
Draco's eyes followed Harry's hand as it ran through his hair and then, realising what he was doing, he shook himself and pulled himself up to sit on the sofa beside Harry.  
  
"You have talked about this with other people, haven't you?" Draco asked, watching Harry's expression. He could tell instantly that Harry hadn't spoken of this to anyone before, although he didn't know how he knew this.  
  
"You haven't even talked to the Weasel and the Mudblood about this?" Draco sounded incredulous. "Look, I might not know much about emotions and all that sort of stuff, but I do know that if you don't talk to someone soon, you are going to go insane."  
  
"Oh, like you would be so upset if I was insane," Harry said sarcastically.  
  
This is serious, thought Draco worriedly, he totally ignored me insulting his best friends.  
  
~ to be continued ~ 


	3. Hanging Out With The Enemy

DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine, they belong to JK Rowling.  
  
READ THIS FIRST: Slash is starting to come into this story, there are hints at the moment and maybe something more between Harry and Draco so read on at your own risk...  
  
A.N. I don't know if Harry and Draco have actually touched skin to skin in the canon before, so if they have, just pretend that they haven't, okay. When they touch in this story, it is for the first time ever.  
  
~ Chapter Three : Hanging Out With The Enemy ~  
  
"I don't know why on earth I'm talking about this with you," Harry said wearily, running a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and lay his head back on the sofa.  
  
Draco's eyes followed Harry's hand as it ran through his hair and then, realising what he was doing, he shook himself and pulled himself up to sit on the sofa beside Harry.  
  
"You have talked about this with other people, haven't you?" Draco asked. God, Harry thought, he almost sounds worried. Nah, can't be. I must be imagining things.  
  
"You haven't even talked to the Weasel and the Mudblood about this?" Draco sounded incredulous. "Look, I might not know much about emotions and all that sort of stuff, but I do know that if you don't talk to someone soon, you are going to go insane."  
  
"Oh, like you would be so upset if I was insane," Harry said sarcastically. He heard Draco insulting his friends and knew he should defend them but that would take effort.  
  
Harry had his eyes closed but he could still see the image of Draco sitting beside him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to shake the vision. It was weird, here he was, having a civil conversation with Draco Malfoy of all people, and enjoying it. It was the first time in months that he could remember feeling good about something.  
  
"You know," Draco said tentatively, "if you want, you could talk to me about it. I mean I know most of what went on anyway."  
  
Harry's eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright. "How?" he demanded.  
  
"My father," Draco replied, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Oh, right," Harry said, relaxing back against the sofa again.  
  
"So...." Draco prompted, sitting up beside Harry with his legs crossed, staring expectantly at the dark haired boy.  
  
"If you already know about it.....I guess it couldn't hurt to talk about it," Harry replied apprehensively. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to someone about it, it was just that whenever he tried, he couldn't seem to find the words. But with Draco, something was different. As Harry opened up, he found that the words came easily and he was sharing things with Draco that he never dreamed he would share with the blonde boy.  
  
Draco, to his credit, said nothing as Harry poured his heart out. He listened attentively and didn't interrupt, just marvelled at the fact that Harry had gotten out of the situation alive. His father had told the story from Voldemort's perspective (with Harry as the bad guy) so it was refreshing to hear the other side. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of his father.  
  
Oh god, Father, Draco thought suddenly. When his father heard about the re-sorting and that Harry was now in Slytherin, he would demand that Draco do something to help Voldemort get to Harry. Strangely the idea no longer held any appeal. There was a time, not so long ago, when Draco would have done anything the Dark Lord asked without questioning it. But now, something was holding him back. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was though.....  
  
"And then Cedric's body came floating out of Voldemort's wand," Harry said, his voice cracking. "Then a few other people came out and then.....then my mum appeared."  
  
Harry couldn't go on. He stared straight ahead, his jaw set and his hands clenched. He was not going to cry, especially not in front of Draco.  
  
Draco wasn't really sure what he was doing but he felt the need to do something, so he reached over and covered one of Harry's clenched fists with his hand.  
  
As he did so, several gold sparks appeared, crackling around both their hands.  
  
Draco snatched back his hand in alarm. "What the hell was that?" he asked, sounding a little shaken.  
  
Harry, too, was dazed by what had just occurred. He'd never heard of static electricity causing actual sparks before. Besides, since it happened here at Hogwart's it had to be something magical. Weird....  
  
"I don't know," Harry managed to reply to Draco's question. "I'll ask Hermione at lunch."  
  
Their minds were jerked off the subject by the abrupt opening of the door. Snape entered the common room and stopped suddenly as he realised that something wasn't quite right.  
  
Potter and Draco were sitting side by side on a sofa and looked like they'd been there for a while. Snape would have bet good money that one of them would be seriously hurt by now......actually he had bet good money - 30 galleons. Damn Potter, always ruining things.  
  
Hold on, Snape thought suddenly. That sofa they're sitting on. Shouldn't it be leather? Snape glanced around at the rest of the room, glaring at Weasley, Finnigan and Finch-Fletchley as he did so. The trio quickly scooped up the cards and flew up the stairs to their dorm.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED HERE?" he bellowed, his face turning red.  
  
"Er, we-" Harry started to speak but was cut off by Draco.  
  
"The common room was awfully dreary," Draco drawled coolly, "so I had Mother send her decorator around."  
  
Harry chanced a glance up at Snape and was stunned to see the Professor close his mouth and stalk out of the room. Harry looked questioningly at Draco.  
  
"He's knows I know he's a spy and he's afraid I'll tell my father," Draco explained.  
  
"Will you?" Harry asked.  
  
Draco thought for a moment before answering. "No."  
  
"Why not?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
"Who would teach Potions if Snape was killed?" Draco asked sarcastically.  
  
"I've heard rumours that Fleur Delacor might be teaching here this year. She's supposedly good at potions," Harry said teasingly.  
  
"That twit from Beaxbatons? That's an excellent reason to not tell my Father about Snape," Draco said with a grin.  
  
Harry smiled back. It was amazing, he mused, how Draco's face lights up when he really smiles.  
  
"So where did you learn that hex you used on me earlier?" Draco asked, eager to keep the conversation going.  
  
"Siri....a friend sent me a book of curses and a charm to confuse the Ministry sensors," Harry explained quickly, to cover his slip. There were some things he couldn't tell anyone (except for Ron and Hermione of course).  
  
"You mean Sirius Black, don't you," Draco said, lowering his voice.  
  
"No-" Harry said.  
  
"It's okay. I know he's innocent," Draco said sympathetically.  
  
"How do you know?" Harry asked, amazed at the turn in the conversation.  
  
"I've met him," he said simply, before explaining, "Peter Pettigrew, I mean."  
  
"What?" Harry nearly exploded as he jumped off the couch and started prowling around the room like a caged lion.  
  
"Hey, calm down. I didn't mean to upset you," Draco said, standing up.  
  
"When did you meet him?" Harry asked anxiously.  
  
"This summer," the blonde replied matter of factly. "Voldemort is a regular guest at the Manor, now that he's got a body and he never goes anywhere without Pettigrew."  
  
"Is there any way we could catch him so Sirius can be free?" Harry asked wonderingly.  
  
Draco looked alarmed. "What on earth are you talking about? No we can't catch him. I know you've done heaps of foolhardy Gryffindor things in the last four years but we are not going on some stupid mission to catch a dark wizard."  
  
Harry glanced calculatingly over at Draco. "Scared?" he asked teasingly.  
  
"No!" Draco glared at Harry. "You're not the only one who has faced evil and lived to tell the tale, but I'm not stupid enough to go asking for trouble. If you're so determined to catch a dark wizard, why don't we go after Voldemort as well?"  
  
Draco regretted the question the instant if left his mouth. Harry was looking like a light bulb had gone on in his head. Draco suppressed a groan. He should have known better than to bait a Gryffindor.  
  
"Forget it, Harry. It's not going to happen. We have more important things to worry about here at Hogwarts, like those weird sparks," Draco said, reminding them both of the strange incident from earlier.  
  
They were interrupted by the sound of dozens of feet stomping down the stairs.  
  
"Hey Harry, coming to lunch?" Fred called out as he entered the common room.  
  
"Uh, yeah, sure," Harry shot Draco an uncertain glance before joining his friends to walk down to the Great Hall for lunch.  
  
In the Great Hall, before joining the Slytherin table, Harry detoured via the Ravenclaw table.  
  
"Hey Hermione, how are you going?" Harry asked as he sat down beside her.  
  
"Harry! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked curiously.  
  
"I need your help," he said simply.  
  
"Sure, Harry. What's happened?" she said worriedly.  
  
"Nothing bad, at least, I hope not. I was sitting in the common room earlier talking to Draco and he touched my hand and gold sparks flew everywhere, when our hands joined. Do have any idea what that means?"  
  
Hermione stared at him in shock as she listened to Harry casually mention talking to Draco like he'd been doing it all his life.  
  
"I've never heard of gold sparks flying when people touch. Has it happened before?" she asked cautiously.  
  
"Not that I can remember, but I don't think Draco and I have actually touched before," Harry said quietly. He really didn't need this getting around the entire school.  
  
"I'll have a look in my books this afternoon and let you know what I find out at dinner. If I can't find anything then we'll have to wait until the library is open tomorrow," she said, a trace of annoyance in her voice. "In the meantime, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think you should go touch....Draco and see if it happens again."  
  
Harry stared at her. He knew what she meant, they had to know if it was just a one time thing or if it was going to happen every time they touched. But for some reason, the thought of touching the blonde boy made Harry's heart leap in a way he had never experienced before.  
  
Hermione was watching Harry curiously. His expression was a mixture of joy and torment. Harry stood up and returned to his own house table. He took a seat next to Draco and caught Hermione's eye. She nodded and watched carefully as Harry casually reached over and brushed Draco's hand as he reached for a bread roll.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
Hermione smiled at Harry and went back to her meal. She saw Ginny glancing at her curiously and decided to enlist her help with the research.  
  
Ginny gasped as Hermione described the situation as Harry had described it to her. Ginny knew exactly what was going on thanks to her upbringing and quickly filled Hermione in on all she knew of the situation. Hermione gasped in shock and both girls stared over at Harry and Draco.  
  
"Forget about it, Gryffindor," Draco said firmly as he poured some more pumpkin juice into his goblet and then into Harry's goblet.  
  
"What?" Harry asked, glancing guiltily over at Draco.  
  
"We are not going after anyone," the blonde boy said cryptically so only Harry knew what he meant.  
  
Harry sighed with relief. He thought Draco had read his mind for a moment there. He'd been busy thinking of how soft Draco's skin was and how much he'd like to......okay, stop right there, Harry thought. I would not like to do anything to Dra-Malfoy......except......no no no no no no don't think about it. Better answer Dr- when the hell did I start calling Malfoy by his first name?  
  
"Okay," Harry said in reply to Draco's statement.  
  
Draco's eyes narrowed, since when did Potter give in so quickly? He frowned. Since when have you known anything at all about Potter except which buttons to push to make him angry? he asked himself irritably. Granted, they'd had a long conversation this morning, but that was the only time they'd actually talked rather than trade insults. One morning does not constitute knowing someone, Draco told himself firmly.  
  
~to be continued~  
  
A.N. This is a story that I have been wanting to write for a long time and I'm finally doing it, but I've been reading a lot of fanfiction on the net and I've noticed a lot of stories popping up which deal with a similar thing to what is going to come up in the next couple of chapters so I'm sorry if it seems like I've copied but really, this is a very popular theme in fanfics. Mine is not as well written as some out there, like Unthinkable Thoughts by Aidan Lynch, which is frankly incredible. I love it and I recommend you all read it if you haven't already done so. 


	4. Golden Sparks

~ Chapter Four : Golden Sparks ~  
  
Ravenclaw Common Room  
  
Hermione and Ginny sat in the far corner of the Ravenclaw common room arguing rather fiercely about whether or not they should tell Harry what the gold sparks signified.  
  
Hermione felt rather strongly that they should let nature take its course whereas Ginny felt that Harry had a right to know what was happening to him.  
  
"You can't let him walk into this completely blind," Ginny hissed at Hermione, neither of them particularly wanted the other students to hear this. Considering all the houses were now mixed up, no one knew who to trust anymore. Hogwarts was like a whole new world.  
  
"He's not blind, he's seeing Malfoy in a new light now," countered Hermione.  
  
Ginny snorted.  
  
"He doesn't need to know this. If he knew about this now, it could ruin things totally. It's too soon," Hermione continued heatedly. "He's not ready."  
  
"He needs to know! Then he can make an informed decision!" Ginny insisted.  
  
"What decision? This is a matter of the heart, not the mind. There is no decision to make. This is going to happen no matter what we do, so it should happen naturally, without us interfering," Hermione said forcefully.  
  
"Fine! Fine. Whatever," Ginny said, finally appearing to give up. "Want to play a game of chess?"  
  
"Sure," Hermione agreed. She knew the argument was far from over but she was willing to let it go for now.  
  
Slytherin Common Room  
  
"So what did Granger say about the sparks?" Draco asked as he and Harry entered the common room after lunch. The common room was pretty busy now that it looked so comfortable so Harry and Draco silently agreed to go upstairs to the dorm room they shared with Justin and Seamus.  
  
"She said she'd look into it," Harry replied, his eyes not meeting Draco's.  
  
"What?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes as he noticed Harry's evasiveness.  
  
"What?" Harry repeated, feigning ignorance as he fiddled with his belongings on his bedside table.  
  
"You're hiding something. I can tell. Tell me what it is or I'll." For once, Draco floundered.  
  
Harry grinned tauntingly. "You'll what?"  
  
"I'll.I'll." Draco suddenly smirked. "I'll tell everyone that you have a crush on Pansy!"  
  
"You wouldn't!" Harry gasped.  
  
"Try me," Draco said, arching one eyebrow.  
  
Harry gazed levelly at him. "Do it and I'll tell everyone that she's not my type."  
  
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, wrinkling his brow in confusion.  
  
"She's female," Harry elaborated lightly as he straightened his text books up on his chest.  
  
Draco stared at Harry, for once at a loss for words. "You're..you're gay?"  
  
"Uh huh," Harry replied, enjoying Draco's reaction. "But don't worry, I'm not going to pounce on you."  
  
Draco licked his lips and felt oddly disappointed at Harry's statement although he wasn't sure why. He pushed the feeling aside and returned back to the original conversation.  
  
"Don't think these distractions are going to work on me, Potter. Tell me what Granger said right now," Draco said, sounding frustrated.  
  
"Okay, okay," Harry said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "She told me to..touch you again to see if it happened again, but it didn't."  
  
"Oh," Draco said with a teasing grin, "sure. It wasn't that you wanted to touch me, Granger made you to touch me. Don't worry, I believe you."  
  
"What the hell are you going on about now?" Harry asked as he pulled his pyjama's out of his drawer and started to change into them.  
  
"Nothing. Why are you getting into your pyjama's? We just had lunch," Draco smirked, highly amused.  
  
Harry looked confused for a moment before changing back into his robes. He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the canopy.  
  
"Do you know anything about these sparks, Malfoy? You grew up in a wizarding family, surely you know a bit about it?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
Draco (lying across his own bed on his stomach) wrinkled his nose adorably. "I can't think of anything. But then, my father only ever taught me dark magic."  
  
"Speaking of dark magic, back to our conversation about Wormtail, I really thin-" Harry started to say.  
  
"Wormtail?" Draco interrupted.  
  
"Peter Pettigrew. His nickname is Wormtail," Harry explained.  
  
"Oh, why Wormtail?" Draco asked.  
  
"He's an animagus. Ironically enough, a rat," Harry said with contempt. "Anyway, I think we should talk about how we can catch him. Sirius has been on the run for long enough."  
  
"I think we should talk about how we can become animagus," Draco said imperiously.  
  
"Oh so we have to talk about what you want to talk about, do we?" Harry said challengingly.  
  
"Of course," Draco replied with a smirk. "Don't think just because I'm surrounded by Griffindors and Hufflepuffs, that your redeeming qualities have rubbed off on me."  
  
"I wouldn't dream of it," Harry said derisively. "Look, I really think we can do this but I can't do it without you."  
  
"You can't do it without me, huh?" Draco said, a teasing glint in his eyes.  
  
Harry groaned, "Get fucked, Draco."  
  
"Oooh, you'd like that, wouldn't you," Draco said, leering at Harry.  
  
"Be serious, please! I have a plan but I need you to help me get into Malfoy Manor," Harry said, rolling over onto his stomach so he could look at Draco. The blonde merely looked annoyed at Harry's persistence.  
  
"I said no, Harry. Besides, how on earth would you get into the Manor? You're public enemy number one over there," Draco asked, frowning over at Harry.  
  
"Two words - Polyjuice Potion," Harry replied.  
  
"Christ, you just won't let this go will you. Fine. Hypothetically, let's say we did do this. You take Polyjuice Potion and we go to the Manor. Then what?" Draco demanded.  
  
"Then..then we find Wormtail and bring him back here," Harry said lamely. He obviously hadn't thought the plan through.  
  
Draco rolled his eyes. "And what happens when we run into my father, or worse, Voldemort?"  
  
"We'll go along with it and when they go we'll find Wormtail and bring him back here," Harry said.  
  
"We'll go along with it," Draco repeated incredulously. "And what if Voldemort decides that then is the right time to initiate us as Death Eaters? Then what?"  
  
Harry looked startled. He sat up slowly. "Why would Voldemort do that?"  
  
Draco closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. "My god, you are naïve. What makes you think Voldemort hasn't already tried to initiate me? What makes you think he won't take any chance he gets to try it now that I've refused?"  
  
"You refused? Why?" Harry asked, looking confused.  
  
"As I said on our first night here, I don't answer to anyone," Draco said simply.  
  
"And you think he'll try to force you to join if you go to the Manor?" Harry asked, needing clarification.  
  
"Yes," Draco replied.  
  
"What were you planning to do at the end of the year if you can't go home for the summer holiday?" Harry asked.  
  
"I hadn't worked that out yet," Draco muttered.  
  
"Let me get this straight because I'm getting a bit mixed up. You have rejected the dark side and Voldemort, does this mean you are now on the light side?" Harry asked hopefully.  
  
"Perhaps," Draco replied ambiguously. "I'd still like to talk about becoming animagus."  
  
"Nice try at changing the subject but I want to talk about this. How about if we both take Polyjuice Potion?" Harry suggested.  
  
"No! No no no no no. How many times do I have to say it? It doesn't matter who we look like. If we go to the Manor and we don't have the dark mark, they'll mark us. Do you want that?" Draco asked.  
  
Harry thought for a moment. He rolled over onto his back and stared blankly. He rubbed his hand over his left wrist and thought about what it would be like to have the dark mark there. He thought about what it would mean to Sirius to be free and he thought about what it would mean to him to have his guardian free.  
  
"I don't care about the dark mark. Sirius is more important than that," Harry said firmly.  
  
Draco didn't look too shocked. It was typical of Harry to care more for others than for himself, and also for Harry to not care about rules or convention.  
  
"You don't have to come with me," Harry said quietly. "Just help me find the Manor. I'll do the rest."  
  
Draco stared into Harry's green eyes for a long moment, contemplating the suggestion. It was now obvious that Harry was determined to do this no matter what anyone said.  
  
"I'm going to come with you, but I think we should both take Polyjuice Potion," Draco said firmly.  
  
Harry looked surprised but grateful for the support. "How are we going to make the potion? I don't want to involve Hermione in this, she'll just try to talk me out of it."  
  
"You forget, Harry. I'm the top of our class in Potions," Draco reminded him.  
  
"Right. So, what do we need?" Harry asked.  
  
They discussed the potion and the ingredients they would need to steal.  
  
"We'd better make a lot because if we're really going to do this, we have to do it right and that means meeting up with a few of the Death Eaters I know who live in this area to convince them that we really want to join," Draco said calmly.  
  
"But we don't want to join," Harry protested. "We just want to get in and out of Malfoy Manor. If we get caught and they try to mark us then so be it but-"  
  
"We can't just waltz into the Manor!" Draco said, scandalised. "They'd do more than just mark us, they'd kill us. We have to make them think that we want to join. Then at Christmas, we can go to the Manor and-"  
  
"Christmas! But that's months away!" Harry complained.  
  
"It is the only way. Unless things go well and they want to initiate us before then," Draco said. "The trouble with that is that we might not be able to get back in time for classes on Monday."  
  
"Fuck classes. This is more important," Harry said firmly.  
  
"Okay," Draco said warily.  
  
"Why are you agreeing to this?" Harry asked, seeming to suddenly realise who he was talking to.  
  
"What? Oh, well, you're right. You need me for this and besides, I can't let you do it alone," Draco's voice became softer towards the end of his little speech. Like he didn't want to admit it.  
  
"What are we?" Harry asked. "I mean, we were enemies, I guess. But now..what are we? Are we friends?"  
  
"It's been less than 24 hours, Harry," Draco said, gazing across at Harry.  
  
"Have you noticed that we've started calling each other by first names?" Harry asked softly.  
  
"Yeah," Draco replied.  
  
"So what are we?" Harry asked persistently.  
  
"Do we really have to put a label on it?" Draco asked exasperatedly.  
  
"Yes, we do," Harry replied with a grin which rapidly turned into a smirk. "Tell me or I'll have to tell Pansy that you like her."  
  
Draco groaned. "Don't you dare! It's taken me four years to convince her that I don't like her. Besides she's not my type."  
  
Harry raised an eyebrow quizzically at him.  
  
"She's female," Draco replied seriously. Harry stared back at him, unable to speak.  
  
"It's dinnertime," Draco said lightly, enjoying Harry's response to his announcement.  
  
The boys stood up and glanced at each other awkwardly.  
  
"We'd better go," Harry said, not quite meeting the blonde boy's eyes.  
  
"Mmm," Draco agreed.  
  
The two boys left the room and headed towards the Great Hall. As they walked through the corridors, their hands sometimes brushed against each other. Both were incredibly aware of the sensation, but neither of them knew what to do with the feelings it generated.  
  
As they entered the Great Hall, Draco headed for the Slytherin table whereas Harry headed for the Ravenclaw table. He dropped down onto the seat beside Hermione.  
  
"Hey Harry, how has your afternoon been?" she asked him cheerily. Ginny also looked at him with interest.  
  
"Fine. Did you manage to discover anything about that thing we discussed earlier?" Harry asked, wary of all the people listening to their conversation.  
  
"Not really," Hermione replied vaguely, ignoring Ginny poking her side.  
  
"Oh. Well, let me know if you find out anything. I'd better get over to Slytherin," Harry said before getting up and heading for his own house.  
  
~to be continued~ 


	5. A Life Of Crime

~ Chapter Five : A Life Of Crime ~  
  
Dungeon  
  
Harry and Draco stood side by side in front of a bubbling cauldron arguing just as fiercely as they always had over the correct way to prepare ingredients. Draco was insisting that the beetles should be crushed, whereas Harry was adamant that they should be added to the potion whole. Anyone watching the exchange would have sworn that the two of them were still in opposing houses, still bitter enemies.  
  
Three weeks had passed since the re-sorting ceremony had taken place. Harry and Draco were becoming friends, but it was a long and arduous process that often involved a lot of yelling.  
  
Harry had found, much to his surprise, that Potions was actually enjoyable now that he was in Snape's house. Snape still wasn't exactly nice, but he had stopped picking on Harry incessantly and while he hadn't awarded Harry any house points, he hadn't taken any away either.  
  
Snape arrived before them but neither boy appeared to notice.  
  
"I'm telling you Draco, if you crush them, the potion will explode!"  
  
"And I'm telling you Harry, if you drop them in whole, the potion will explode!"  
  
"For once," Snape said dryly, cutting into their 'discussion'. "Mr Potter is correct. The beetles must be added whole."  
  
The argument stopped abruptly, the beetles were added whole with no problems and Snape swept away.  
  
"Teacher's pet," Draco muttered darkly.  
  
Harry burst out laughing. "One time he admits I'm right and suddenly I'm his pet? I think you're mistaking me for you."  
  
"Hey!" Draco said indignantly. "I'm not his pet."  
  
Harry said nothing but merely smiled knowingly which seemed to annoy the blonde boy even more but he didn't respond.  
  
They worked in silence for several minutes more until Draco realised that the store cupboard that housed the potion ingredients was free from students. Thinking quickly, Draco reached for a stirrer and 'accidentally' swept half the Billywig stings off the desk and onto the floor. Of course they were useless once they were tainted by the dirty floor. Ignoring Harry's dirty look, Draco wandered into the store cupboard, humming to himself softly.  
  
Draco found the Billywig stings easily but he acted as if he couldn't find them as he searched for the Polyjuice Potion ingredients they needed. They had most of the ingredients, but they still needed knotgrass and powdered bicorn horn. Draco found a small vial of the bicorn horn on a top shelf. He pocketed it and grabbed the Billywig stings. The knotgrass they could find in the forbidden forest. Draco was reluctant to steal that too because both ingredients missing could tip Snape off as to which potion the students stealing his ingredients were planning to brew. There weren't many potions that involved the knotgrass/powdered bicorn horn combination.  
  
Draco returned to Harry and added the appropriate number of Billywig stings to their potion. Harry stirred it carefully and watched as it turned to correct shade of lilac.  
  
"Took you long enough," Harry commented.  
  
"Couldn't find the ingredient we needed," Draco replied vaguely, hoping that Harry would catch the reference to the powdered bicorn horn.  
  
It appeared Harry had not when he replied. "What are you talking about? They're always on the mid - oh."  
  
"Yes, oh," Draco returned lightly.  
  
Herb Garden  
  
Later that afternoon, after Potions with the Gryffindors, the Slytherins had Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Hermione was working closely with Professor Sprout but she kept watching Harry and Draco closely.  
  
Harry glanced over at the nearby forest. "Tonight?"  
  
"We need it by this weekend or the potion is useless," Draco replied softly as he pulled up a weed.  
  
"We have a free period in the morning, we can sleep in," Harry said, digging his trowel back into the earth.  
  
"How far do you think we'll have to go?" Draco asked with a shiver. He really wasn't fond of the forest. A detention in first year with Hagrid had seen to that.  
  
"Not far. Knotgrass likes sunlight and if we go too deep it gets too dark and damp for it to survive," Harry said informatively.  
  
"Aren't we just full of it today," Draco commented, sounding a little irritated.  
  
"Hey, can I help it if my regular Friday night study session with Ron and Hermione is paying off?" Harry asked with a grin. "You know, you're welcome to join us anytime."  
  
"Yeah, sure. Like I'd join the Weasel and the Mu-" Draco's mouth closed abruptly as he saw the look in Harry's eyes. The last time Harry had that look in his eye (just over a week ago) Draco had ended up with a black eye, which Madam Pomfrey had refused to heal with magic.  
  
"I may be a Slytherin now but they are still my friends," Harry said tersely.  
  
Draco grimaced. He'd have to apologise now or Harry would sulk all night and they really needed that knotgrass. He watched as the dark haired boy attacked the herb garden viciously with his trowel.  
  
"I'm sorry, alright," Draco said hastily, before Harry could damage too many plants. Actually, Draco was surprised that Professor Sprout didn't have knotgrass growing in this garden, but he'd been over every inch of it, on the off chance that it might be lurking somewhere but had had no such luck.  
  
Harry glanced up and wiped sweat from his brow on his sleeve. His gaze softened as he saw the pained expression on Draco's face. "It's okay. I know it's more of a habit now but could you please try to stop it. Their names are Ron and Hermione."  
  
"Sure, Ron and Hermione," Draco parroted back dutifully.  
  
"Hi Harry," Hermione said cheerfully as she appeared beside them. "Hi Draco," she said, her voice faltering a bit as she said his name.  
  
"Granger," Draco said a tad edgily as Harry smiled at Hermione.  
  
"Now Draco," Harry said with eyes sparkling and a teasing grin. "I know you know her first name, you just said it."  
  
"Hermione," Draco said grudgingly, not looking up from his weeding.  
  
"So, how are you guys?" Hermione asked, glancing between the two of them.  
  
Draco merely grunted. Harry smiled affectionately down at him and answered for the both of them. "We're fine. Oh, that reminds me. Did you ever find anything out about those gold sparks?"  
  
Draco looked up, interested in spite of himself. His eyes narrowed as Hermione flushed and her eyes darted around the garden before landing back on Harry's.  
  
"Uh, no, not really," she said before quickly changing the subject. "Ron isn't having much fun in Hufflepuff. Apparently they're a rather boring lot. He's itching for some sort of adventure. Of course, I told him not to go looking for trouble. I mean, sure we've had a lot of fun adventures but at the time they were happening it was not fun at all."  
  
"Adventures?" Draco asked curiously.  
  
"Yeah," Hermione said, smiling at him. "I know you thought we were a rather boring lot but Harry, Ron and I have had more than our fair share of danger and rule-breaking."  
  
"Rule-breaking? You?" Draco snorted incredulously.  
  
"Yes me," Hermione said, mock-indignantly.  
  
"What sorts of things did you do?" Draco asked. Harry stood back and watched the two of them have a real conversation for the first time ever.  
  
"Well, we smuggled a dragon out of the country in first year. In our third year, we smuggled a hippogriff and a wanted criminal out of Hogwarts. Wow, we've done a lot of smuggling. Perhaps we should go into business," Hermione suggested lightly, grinning at Harry.  
  
"What on earth would we smuggle, Hermione?" Harry asked, going along with her joke.  
  
"I can't think of anything," Hermione eventually replied after a moment's reflection.  
  
"Oh please, come on Gr-Hermione. Use that brain of yours," Draco said scathingly. Harry tried to glare at him but his heart wasn't in it.  
  
"Uh, I really don't know what you're getting at Draco," Hermione said, looking baffled.  
  
"What is the one thing that students here would pay through the nose for?" Draco asked rhetorically. "Potions. There are a variety of specialist potions that a few enterprising Slytherins used to provide to students before they got re-sorted and their operation was disrupted."  
  
"What types of potions?" Hermione asked, fascinated.  
  
"Well, the most popular one is, of course, Veritaserum," Draco replied dryly.  
  
"Well done, chaps," Professor Sprout called out across the garden to her class. "A good day's work. Now get cleaned up for dinner."  
  
Slytherin Common Room  
  
Shortly after 2am Harry and Draco, dressed entirely in black muggle clothing, crept across the common room to the exit.  
  
Before they left the relative safety of the common room, Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map and his wand. With a tap and a whispered 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', the map revealed that the path to the entrance hall was clear. Harry stuffed the map in his pocket and they left the common room.  
  
They crept along the corridor, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. Harry followed Draco, trying not to look down at Draco's arse. It was a difficult task and Harry had to keep dragging his eyes away.  
  
A few metres on Draco stopped suddenly. Harry, not quite concentrating on where they were going, walked right into him. They both stood as still as statues straining to hear something. Harry could hear faint footsteps coming towards them. Draco grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him quickly behind a statue. They both pressed themselves back into the inky shadows trying to control their breathing so it wasn't so loud.  
  
The person came into view. It was Professor Snape. They both held their breath as he came into view. Harry's heart was thudding wildly and so was Draco's. Harry knew this because the blonde boy was pressing his back against Harry's chest. Harry closed his eyes briefly. It was heaven and hell being so close to Draco.  
  
Eventually the danger passed as Professor Snape headed downstairs towards the dungeons. Draco stayed where he was for a moment (Just in case Snape comes back, he told himself) before he pushed away from Harry and they continued on their way.  
  
Once outside, they ran across the grounds, past Hagrid's cottage, towards the forest. On the edge of the forest, Draco hesitated.  
  
"Draco?" Harry enquired softly.  
  
"Are you sure this is the only way to get the knotgrass?" Draco asked just as softly, his grey eyes shining with uncertainty.  
  
"Are you scared?" Harry asked incredulously. He would not have thought that was possible.  
  
"No!" Draco replied defiantly, his eyes now flashing with anger. "Don't project your own feelings of fear onto me. I am just concerned about.about.oh shut up. Let's get this over and done with."  
  
Draco stalked off into the forest with Harry trailing behind him. Draco was mentally chastising himself as they walked through the forest. I'm an idiot, he told himself unceremoniously. I am not worried about Harry's safety, he can take care of himself.  
  
"Drac, here's some Alihotsy, the knotgrass shouldn't be too far away from it," Harry called to him softly.  
  
A protest at being called by the nickname rose and died unsaid on Draco's lips. It surprised him to realise that he didn't mind Harry shortening his name. If it had been anyone else he would have hexed them by now. Draco walked back to where Harry was searching among the multitude of plants that grew in the forest.  
  
"Aha," Harry said triumphantly. "Here it is."  
  
Draco watched as Harry took a pair of scissors and a plastic bag out of his pocket. Harry cut two handfuls of grass and shoved them into the plastic bag. He pocketed the scissors and stood up. He glanced over at Draco who was leaning against a thick tree trunk.  
  
"Why are you even here?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
Draco looked confused. "What?"  
  
"Well, I've done all the work. Why are you here?" Harry said with a smile.  
  
"Hey, I got the powdered bicorn horn, now it's your turn to get an ingredient," Draco said indignantly. "I'm just here for moral support."  
  
"Well, thank you," Harry said mockingly. "Your presence has been a great comfort to me."  
  
"I'm glad I could be of service," Draco replied with a smirk and a small bow. "Come on, let's get out of here."  
  
They grinned at each other for a moment before sprinting out of the forest.  
  
-to be continued 


	6. Polyjuice Potion

~ Chapter Six : Polyjuice Potion ~  
  
Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom  
  
It was Friday night and Harry was watching the gently bubbling potion as he stirred it. It was just about done. All that had to be added were the bits of the people they wanted to turn into. That was Draco's department. While he waited for the blonde to return with these crucial ingredients Harry cast his mind back over the past month.  
  
It had been the most fun he'd ever had at Hogwarts. Draco had a wicked streak a mile wide and he and Harry had a lot of fun playing pranks on the other students, mainly Pansy Parkinson. It was cruel to pick on her, Harry knew, but she asked for it by being so incredibly stupid.  
  
It wasn't always sunshine and roses. They still had fierce arguments every now and again. But these were most often about this wild plan they had come up with. And although Harry was loathe to admit it, Draco was usually right. It was lucky that he had the Slytherin there to reign in his more Gryffindor moments. Harry may have been re-sorted into Slytherin but he retained the foolhardiness of his former house.  
  
They had decided to use Moaning Myrtle's deserted bathroom to brew the potion because it was the only place they could be assured of privacy. The only other people who would ever think to come in here were Ron and Hermione and they were so busy trying to make their relationship work while in different houses that they didn't have much time for anything else, apart from studying of course.  
  
Harry sighed as he thought of Ron. The red-head had noticed Harry's changed relationship with Draco and was not at all happy about it. Another reason why they hadn't really spoken in the last week.  
  
Draco slipped into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom then and held up a paper bag triumphantly. In his other hand was his school bag which he dropped by the door.  
  
"I'm not going to turn into a girl, am I?" Harry asked, suddenly remembering something he'd been obsessing over while stirring the potion.  
  
"What?" Draco said, starting to laugh.  
  
Harry started to get defensive. "Well, I've been thinking while I've been waiting and you didn't say who you were going to get the bits from and I really don't want to be a girl."  
  
"Don't worry, these are all male, trust me," Draco said the last part with a wicked twinkle in his eyes that Harry had learnt spelt trouble for some poor unsuspecting soul. He just hoped Draco was trying to freak him out.  
  
"Alright, well the potion is done," Harry announced.  
  
"Well, if we're really doing this, we'd better get on with it," Draco said, arching an eyebrow at Harry, as if daring him to back out.  
  
Harry didn't reply. He merely ladled some potion into two vials and handed one to Draco.  
  
Draco lowered his eyebrow and felt his admiration for his new housemate grow even more than it already had in the last month. Out of the paper bag he had brought with him, he pulled two hairs, one dark brown and one blonde.  
  
"Where did you get these?" Harry asked, accepting the blonde hair Draco handed him. He dropped it into his vial and stirred it in as Draco did the same with the dark brown one.  
  
"A couple of Ravenclaws whose loyalties are questionable," Draco replied vaguely.  
  
"Why not Hufflepuff?" Harry asked seriously. Draco shot him a look that told him exactly how stupid that question was. As if the Dark Lord would accept Hufflepuffs into his ranks. Besides, they were all far too loyal to Dumbledore.  
  
"Bottoms up," Draco said, raising his vial to his lips and he downed the lot.  
  
Harry glared at his own vial for a second before mimicking Draco. He gasped and bent over, bracing his hands on his knees. He had forgotten how much the potion burned as his body adjusted to its new form.  
  
At last he looked up to find Draco staring at him with an amused, indulgent expression that would have seemed right on his own face, but on the boy currently standing in front of him, it really didn't fit.  
  
Harry wheeled around to look in the mirror. He raised his hand to touch the yellow-blonde hair on his head, so different from his own black hair. His face too, was different. Blue eyes, longer nose. He looked older. Well, they were seventh year students now. Harry recognised the faces but really couldn't recall the names.  
  
"This is wrong," Harry whispered, still staring at himself in awe.  
  
"Shit," Draco swore, biting back more profanities. "Please tell me you're talking about the fact that your hair colour now matches your intellect."  
  
"What? No. I mean, we are going to totally ruin the reputation of these boys. I don't know their names but they are going to be mud by the time we're finished," Harry explained.  
  
"The point is that their loyalties are uncertain, otherwise we'd never get in. And if someone questions the real guys later, well, they won't have the dark mark so it shouldn't affect them," Draco explained patiently, eyeing his own changed appearance in the mirror. He now had chocolate brown eyes and matching dark brown wavy hair. He didn't look half bad. Not as good as he usually looked of course.  
  
"So what do we wear?" Harry asked cautiously.  
  
"Plain black robes, black clothes underneath. It's all the Death Eaters wear, apart from those ridiculous masks. Plus it will make it easier to escape if we need to, we can blend in with the shadows," Draco said, turning away from the mirror. "Now, we need to bottle this, so we can use it another time if we need to."  
  
They worked quickly and silently to bottle the rest of the potion and stored it, along with the bag of hair in one of the toilet cubicles with an 'out of order' sign on the door.  
  
"How long will we stay like this?" Harry asked, doubts and questions swirling in his mind.  
  
"Twelve hours," Draco replied.  
  
Draco picked up his school bag then and turned to Harry. "I hope you don't mind but I've brought some of your clothes for you to change into."  
  
Harry stared as Draco pulled out Harry's black jeans and a black t-shirt and then pulled out some of his own black clothes. Harry shrugged and picked up his clothes. They couldn't just waltz into the Slytherin common room now that they looked different. Harry just hoped that his clothes would fit him.  
  
They changed quickly, both sneaking glances at the other when they thought they weren't looking.  
  
"Got the portkey?" Draco asked as they prepared to leave the bathroom and Hogwarts.  
  
Harry patted his robe, feeling the reassuring presence of the portkey against his body. It was their ticket back to Hogwarts if they had the chance to grab Wormtail or if they needed a quick escape. He nodded.  
  
The Hog's Head, Hogsmeade  
  
Harry and Draco entered the pub at the opposite end of town to the Three Broomsticks at about ten o'clock that night. They walked over to the bar and Draco ordered two glasses of mulled mead. Harry watched as the busty barmaid poured the drinks while Draco casually turned around to survey the crowd. He accepted the glass Harry handed him and took a swig before turning to Harry.  
  
"Just sip it if you haven't had mead before. I don't want you coughing and spluttering like a child in front of these people," Draco whispered quickly, ignoring Harry's indignant gaze as he questioned Harry's drinking ability. He swallowed the smirk that threatened to appear as he saw Harry grudgingly taking his advice. "My contact is over in the corner. We'll go over there now, but let me do the talking. Come on."  
  
With that, Draco sauntered over to where a man sat at a booth alone, glaring around at anyone and everyone. He slid into the seat opposite him and Harry sat beside him.  
  
The man arched an eyebrow at this intrusion but did not utter a word.  
  
"I hear that you're the man to see about joining the Dark Lord," Draco said respectfully.  
  
The man's eyes narrowed. "Who wants to know?" he growled.  
  
"I'm Michael Abbot and this is Alex Bones," Draco said easily.  
  
"How old are you?" he asked, glaring at them as if trying to scare them off.  
  
"Eighteen," Draco said, glaring back at him.  
  
"And what makes you so eager to join Lord Voldemort?" the man observed their reactions to the Dark Lord's name. Neither of them so much as batted an eyelid.  
  
"We believe in his cause and we want to help him fight against the Mudbloods and the Muggles," Draco said, taking another swig of his mead.  
  
"And how do you feel about Harry Potter?" the man asked causing Draco to choke on his mead.  
  
"Don't get me started on Harry Fucking Potter," Harry drawled, jumping into the conversation since Draco appeared to be out of commission at the moment. "I hate the bastard. Especially the way he prances around Hogwarts like he owns the place."  
  
"Ah, Hogwarts students, are ya?" the man said, suddenly smiling.  
  
"Yeah, is that a problem?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Nah. The Dark Lord will be well pleased. He's been looking for some young recruits for a while now," the man said, grinning at the two of them.  
  
Harry suddenly had serious misgivings about this whole plan. This really did not sound good but they had come too far to back out now.  
  
"Let's go. There's a meeting tonight in the forest," the man said, standing up.  
  
"Tonight?" Draco repeated, staring up at him.  
  
"Not having second thoughts, are ya?" he said, leering down at them.  
  
"Of course not," Harry said firmly, standing up. Draco followed and the three of them left the pub.  
  
Forbidden Forest  
  
The three of them reached the meeting place in the forbidden forest after most of the Death Eaters had already assembled. Most did not have their masks on and were chatting amongst themselves as they waited for the Dark Lord to arrive.  
  
Draco paled slightly at the sight of his father, talking to Nott. Harry shot him a reassuring glance and they followed their contact over to Lucius Malfoy.  
  
"Malfoy, got a couple of Hogwarts students who want to join," he said.  
  
"Well, well, well, Hogwarts students. What house are you in?" Lucius asked coldly.  
  
"We're both in Gryffindor but we were in Ravenclaw until Dumbledore decided to re-sort everyone," Harry said, trying to sound like he thought Dumbledore was an idiot.  
  
"Dumbledore did what?" Lucius asked, amazed. Frankly, Harry was amazed that the Death Eaters didn't know about it yet.  
  
"He got the sorting hat to sort everyone again. Most people are in new houses," Harry explained. Draco couldn't bring himself to speak in front of his father just yet.  
  
"And what house is my son in now?" Lucius asked icily. Draco shivered, thanking god he was still in Slytherin.  
  
"Draco? Oh, he's in Slytherin. He's one of the few to still be in his original house," Harry replied easily. Lucius seemed pleased to hear that.  
  
"And Crabbe and Goyle?" Lucius asked with a smirk.  
  
"Uh, Crabbe is in Gryffindor and Goyle is in Ravenclaw," Harry said quickly, hoping that he'd got it right. He really hadn't taken that much notice of them.  
  
"Cra-" Lucius stopped abruptly in the middle of calling to Vincent Crabbe's father. Voldemort had arrived with Wormtail by his side.  
  
TBC 


	7. The Death Eater Meeting

~ Chapter Seven : The Death Eater Meeting ~

"Ah, my loyal Death Eaters," Voldemort crowed as they formed a loose circle around him.  He frowned at the two newcomers.  "And who is this?"

"My Lord," Lucius began, before the man who had led them there could get a word in.  "These two are students from Hogwarts who wish to join you."

Voldemort smiled a twisted smile.  "Students.  Good.  And which houses are you in?"

"Well, we were in Ravenclaw but now we're in Gryffindor," Harry explained, fighting to control his instinct to fight against Voldemort.  Thankfully his scar wasn't burning (perhaps because he didn't have a scar at the moment).

Voldemort appeared to be confused.  "Now…?  What?"

"Apparently, Dumbledore decided to sort all the students again this year.  Most of them are in new houses.  My own son, Draco, is still in Slytherin whereas Crabbe's son is now in Gryffindor," Lucius said smugly.

Crabbe Senior gasped in shock and gazed accusingly at Lucius.  

"And Harry Potter?  Which house is he in now?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes gleaming.  All eyes turned to Harry.

"Uh, he's in Slytherin," Harry said, he hated being forced to reveal that, knowing that they would now set up a plan to kidnap him and probably try to make Draco do it.  

"Harry Potter is a Slytherin," Voldemort said, rubbing his hands together.  "Well, perhaps I shouldn't try to kill him.  Perhaps I should try to gain him as an ally."

Voldemort stared in thoughtful silence for a moment.  "This needs further thought.  Now, as for our two little students.  What are your names boys?"

"Alex Bones, my Lord," Harry said, bowing his head respectfully.

"Michael Abbot, my Lord," Draco said, taking Harry's lead.

"Well, Michael Abbot and Alex Bones, do you come here of your own free will?" Voldemort asked, his voice deceptively low.

"Yes," Harry replied firmly.

"Yes," Draco replied.

"Do you pledge yourself to the cause?  Do you agree to do whatever is asked of you without fail?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Come here, Bones," Voldemort commanded.

Harry walked forward, his eyes staring deeply into Voldemort's, never flinching away.  

Voldemort smiled.  "You have balls.  I like that," he said to Harry.  "Hold out your left wrist."

Harry pushed away the shock he felt at being initiated so soon.  The way Draco had described it, it could take months before they were allowed to join.  But then something the man they had met at the Hog's Head came back to him _'He's been looking for some young recruits for a while now'_ and then he remembered his own sense of dread in response to that statement.

Harry held out his wrist and watched in detached silence as Voldemort pointed his wand towards his wrist.  Harry stood his ground and bit back the pain as it felt like thousands of razor blades sliced into his wrist.  Harry tasted the coppery tang of blood pool in his mouth as he bit through his lip.

After a long moment the pain passed and Voldemort looked pleased.  "Behold, before you we have the future of the Death Eaters.  Strong young men who can withstand pain without flinching, who are not afraid to face me but you will not cross me, will you young Alex."

"No, my Lord," Harry murmured.  Voldemort waved him back to his place in the circle and gestured for Draco to come forward.

Draco took note of what had just happened and how Voldemort had reacted and knew that he would have to be just as strong as Harry.  He steeled himself and walked over to face the Dark Lord.  He held out his left wrist.

"Ah, eager, my new recruit?  Good, good," Voldemort crooned before he repositioned his wand and said the incantation.

Draco gritted his teeth to keep from making a sound.  How the hell had Harry done it?  Draco's right fist clenched and he fought what felt like a losing battle with the pain, trying to tame it, bend it to his will.  He must have succeeded because suddenly the pain stopped and he glanced down.  There it was.  The dark mark on his pale skin.  

"Another strong young recruit.  I am pleased tonight," Voldemort was saying, raking his eyes around his Death Eaters as Draco returned to his position in the circle.  "Now, reports from the field.  First…I think…yes, Severus, what news from Hogwarts?"

A masked Death Eater stepped forward and a hand reached up to remove the mask.  It was indeed Severus Snape.  Harry felt his heart drop as he realised that Snape would tell Dumbledore what two of his students had done tonight.  It wouldn't take them long to realise that it wasn't the two whose names they'd used and then they'd start a full scale search for the marked students.  They would have to try to get Wormtail tonight.

"My Lord," Snape was saying.  "There is little to tell from Hogwarts.  That beast, Hagrid is not back yet from meeting with the giants.  Dumbledore continues to try to convince Fudge of your return, with little success I might add.  So he does not have the Ministry's approval to do anything to try to oppose you."

"Why did you not tell me of Dumbledore's little re-sorting ceremony sooner?" Voldemort asked, his voice suddenly cold and harsh.  He was pointing his wand at Snape and Harry just knew he was going to use Crucio on him.

"I…uh…" Snape started to explain.

"Crucio," Voldemort said, sounding almost bored.  Snape's knees buckled beneath him and he fell to the ground but did not utter a sound.  

Harry had to exert extreme self-control to stand still and not do anything to stop the torture from continuing.  He felt Draco tense beside him and knew he was feeling the same way.  Snape would probably never be Harry's favourite teacher but over the past month he had gotten to know his new head of house and he was not as bad as he often made himself seem.  

Finally Voldemort decided he had had enough and he lifted the curse but Snape had already passed out.  The meeting continued as if nothing had happened.  "Lucius, how are things in the Ministry?"

"Fudge is in denial still.  We have a growing number of allies in the Ministry, including, and I have to say that is really is a coup for us, Percy Weasley," Lucius announced arrogantly.

Voldemort's eyes widened as Harry and Draco's did as well.  "We have a Weasley?  He wants to join us?  Well done, Lucius.  We have been trying to turn a Weasley over to our side for decades and finally Lucius has done it.  Bring him to our next meeting and we shall initiate him.  Any other news?"

There was much shuffling of feet and general staring around at anything other than Voldemort.  

"Fine.  I shall go now.  But at the next meeting, at the same time next week, I shall expect to have some news from each of you.  And my newest Death Eaters, you shall bring me news of some new recruits from Hogwarts, names of some students who will join us," Voldemort said before glancing down at Snape.

Harry and Draco nodded.

"Take Severus back to Hogwarts with you, he's still out cold," Voldemort commanded.  

"Yes, my Lord," Draco replied and he walked over to his professor to assess the situation.

Voldemort and most of the Death Eaters apparated away but Lucius caught Wormtail's arm before he could apparate too.  A fierce but quiet conversation ensued which Harry watched carefully to see if he could catch Wormtail before he could get away.

Lucius whispered what looked like a final threat and dropped Wormtail's arm before apparating away.  

"Sir?" Harry called out to Wormtail before he could get away.  The rat turned around curiously.

"Sir, I was wondering…uh what's it like to be so close to the Dark Lord?" Harry asked, trying to sound like he was in awe of Wormtail's trusted position in the Dark Lord's inner circle.

"Well, it's a very privileged position," Wormtail, a.k.a Peter Pettigrew said proudly.  

"You must be very clever to have a position like that," Harry continued.

"Oh yes," Wormtail agreed heartily.

"Do you think maybe you could help us with Snape?  We aren't sure how to get him back to Hogwart's and surely a smart wizard like yourself will be able to help us," Harry said, hoping that Wormtail wouldn't remember that he was supposed to be a smart Ravenclaw student.

"Well, I really should go," Wormtail said uncertainly.

"It will only take a minute," Harry cajoled.  

"Okay, but then I have to go," Wormtail said, agreeing to help them.  

The two of them stepped over to Snape and Draco (who had been listening to the conversation between Harry and Wormtail and had an idea of what Harry was planning).  Wormtail took out his wand and enervated Snape, who looked groggily around for a moment before Draco grabbed Snape's arm and slung his arm around Harry's waist.  In that instant Harry grabbed Wormtail's arm and reached into his pocket for the portkey.  All four of them felt the strange hook-like pull around the navel.

Dumbledore's office

Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, shuffling through paperwork and drinking tea, as he waited for Severus to return from the weekly Death Eater meeting.  He sighed heavily as he thought of what Severus was forced to endure in order to spy for the light.  

Suddenly four people appeared out of nowhere in his office.  With the reflexes of a man half his age, Dumbledore had his wand in his hand in an instant.  He immediately recognised the crumpled body of Severus and his eyes moved to the other three.  He recognised all of them but one caused his eyes to widen as he raised his wand.

"Petrificus Totalus," Dumbledore said resolutely.  Harry let go of Wormtail at that moment and the rat's body froze and fell to the floor.  Harry reached down, pulled his wand out of his hand and politely put it on Dumbledore's desk.  

Dumbledore's eyes scanned the two students in front of him.  "Alex Bones and Michael Abbot.  This is indeed a surprise."

Harry cleared his throat and glanced at Draco, who nodded his acceptance.  "Actually, Sir, we're not Alex and Michael, we took Polyjuice potion.  I'm Harry Potter, and this is Draco Malfoy."

Snape, who had managed to drag himself into an armchair, stared at them in disbelief.  "But you were initiated!"

Dumbledore gasped, "You weren't."

Harry responded by pulling up the sleeve of his robe to reveal the dark mark.  Draco did the same.  

"Oh sweet Merlin," Dumbledore said as he dropped back down into his chair, suddenly looking so much older than he usually did.  

"When does the potion wear off?" Dumbledore asked.

"At about nine am," Draco replied.  

"Well done on brewing a Polyjuice potion, Draco," Snape said wearily but still managed to convey the impression that there was no way Harry could have done it.

"Hey!  I'll have you know that Hermione, Ron and I brewed Polyjuice potion in our second year!" Harry said indignantly.  

"What?" Snape snorted.

Dumbledore merely smiled at this information.  "Well, as it's currently two am, there are still a number of hours before the two of you return to your normal bodies.  Your roommates will be asleep by now so you can go back to your dorm now.  I will deal with Mister Pettigrew.  Oh, boys, perhaps you can go via the hospital wing and send Madam Pomfrey up here to attend to Professor Snape.  She knows the meeting was tonight, you just need to let her know that he is here."

The two boys nodded and walked to the door. 

"Harry, Draco, I expect to see you in my office after lunch, say around two pm," Dumbledore said sternly.

"Yes sir," they both replied before leaving the office.

As they walked through the hallways towards the hospital wing, Harry remembered what it had felt like to have Draco's arm around him.  It was a nice memory and Harry wished Draco would put his arm around him now.  He sighed.  

"You know, you're going to have your father on your back about getting me to Voldemort now," Harry said lightly.

"You know I'm going to ignore him.  I told you I wasn't going back home again and now I really can't because if he sees this, he'll know it was me," Draco said, tapping the wrist with the dark mark.  

Harry instinctively grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed it supportively.  He was about to let go when Draco clutched at his fingers so he hung on.  They walked through the halls like this, holding hands until they reached the hospital wing.

Back in one of the corridors they had passed through, two heads appeared from behind a statue of a humpbacked witch.

"Did you see that?" one seventh year student, a boy, asked excitedly.

"Did I ever!" the other seventh year student, another boy who looked identical to the first boy, replied.

TBC


	8. The Morning After

~ Chapter Eight : The Morning After ~

Harry was lying quietly in his bed with the curtains pulled tightly around the sides. He was pretending to be asleep until the other guys left the room, apart from Draco that is.  He knew it was after 9am because he had changed back.  He was absentmindedly rubbing his left wrist.  The mark was still there of course.  It felt so strange to glance down and see it there, a big black blemish on his skin.  

Eventually the other two, Justin and Seamus started moving about but they were careful to be quiet.

"Harry and Draco must have got back late, we went to bed at 1am and they weren't here then.  Wonder what they were doing?" Harry heard Seamus mutter.

"They've been thick as thieves lately though, haven't they.  You almost wouldn't believe that they'd ever been enemies," Justin commented lightly.

"I don't know about that, they had a hell of a blow up the other day in the common room.  Weren't you here then?" Seamus replied.

"Hiya lads," Harry heard Fred enter the room, without knocking as usual.

"Hey, keep it down, Harry and Draco are still asleep," Justin hissed at him.  Thanks Justin, Harry thought with a smile.

"Sorry," Fred whispered loudly before teasing them.  "Hey, I've got some juicy gossip for you."

"What is it?" Seamus replied, eagerly.

"George and I were out late last night and guess who we saw skipping through Hogwarts hand in hand – Michael Abbot and Alex Bones!" Fred crowed.

"What?" Seamus and Justin yelped.  Harry bit back a groan.  This rumour was going to travel right through the school.  Could it get any worse?

"You know, I always suspected that Michael, but Alex, I never would have guessed," Justin said thoughtfully.  

"Anyway, are you guys ready?  Want to go get some breakfast?" Seamus said.

"What about those two?" Fred asked.

"Ah, leave them.  They got in late too," Seamus said, his voice getting fainter as they apparently left the room.

Harry sighed with relief as the bedroom door closed.  He nearly jumped a mile when his curtains started opening but it was just Draco slipping into his bed beside him.

Draco smiled shyly as he slipped between the covers.  "Hi.  I thought you might be awake by now and thought I'd come visit you."

"Uh, hi.  Did you hear what Fred just said?" Harry asked, offering Draco a small smile.

"Yeah.  But there's nothing we can do about that," Draco said practically.  "How are you feeling today?"

"What do you mean?  I feel fine, no side effects," Harry replied, a bit baffled.

"I don't mean the potion," Draco said, rolling his eyes.  "I mean, about what happened last night."

"Oh…uh…I guess I'm okay with it.  I mean, I like being close to you," Harry replied, thinking that Draco must have been talking about them holding hands.

"Actually I was talking about being initiated," Draco replied, he grinned as Harry blushed.  "But it's good to know how you feel about that."

Draco snuggled over closer to Harry.  "So this would be okay, then?"

Harry made a face.  "Don't tease me."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Draco replied, sounding terribly sorry as he snuggled closer.  "Better?"

"No," Harry growled as he reached out and pulled Draco's body hard against his.  "This is better."

Harry and Draco stared deeply into each other's eyes for a long moment.  Then Draco licked his lips and Harry's eyes were drawn down to watch the blonde's tongue snake out over his lips.  Time seemed to slow down as Harry dragged his eyes back up to meet Draco's.  Their heads moved slowly closer together and finally their lips touched and deepened into a kiss that seemed to liberate both of them.  Harry's arms tightened around Draco and they kissed for what seemed an eternity.  

They pulled back slightly and Draco managed to extricate one of his arms to wrap around Harry.  

"Last summer," Draco said lightly.  "If anyone had told you that you would be lying here snogging me, would you have believed them, or would you have hexed them on the spot?"

Harry grinned.  "You know I would have hexed them on the spot just the same as you would have."

Draco tried to grin back but Harry could tell it was forced.  

"What?  You aren't saying that you…that you had feelings for me, I mean that you have feelings for me?" Harry's voice trailed off as he tried to read Draco's expression which had suddenly become extremely guarded.  

Draco extricated himself from Harry's arms and left the bed.  He returned to his side of the room and started to get dressed.  

"Draco?" Harry asked as he opened the curtains surrounding his bed.  The blonde boy refused to talk to him.  

Harry shrugged and started to get dressed too.  Finally the silence became too much for him.

"Look, I'm sorry okay.  No, I have never had feelings for you before.  I may have thought you were cute but that's as far as it went.  You have to understand that before we spent so much time together, the only things I knew about you were that you hated muggles and muggle-borns, you wanted to be a Death Eater just like your father and that you were the most arrogant little shit I'd ever met.  But I can say this, you definitely got under my skin.  Actually, you still do, only now it's in a good way."

Draco glanced up at Harry, a big smirk on his face.

"You bastard!" Harry exclaimed as he realised that Draco had been faking it. 

Draco started laughing.  "I got you good.  Come on, let's go down to breakfast before we miss it."

The two of them were walking through the deserted hallways, both being careful not to raise their left arms.  Not that there was any particular reason to raise their left arm as they walked down a corridor but they were going through different situations where it might be a problem, and quite a few which wouldn't but were fun to talk about.

"And remember," Harry cautioned Draco with a wicked grin.  "Never, ever reach up to touch Snape's hair with your left hand, always use your right."

"Mmhmm," Draco agreed, obviously not listening to Harry's hilarious joke.  He then started speaking in a very macho I-don't-want-to-admit-this-and-I'll-deny-it-publicly kind of way. "Listen, about what you said when I was pretending to ignore you earlier.  Well, I just wanted you to know that I would have hexed someone too.  And you've been getting under my skin too, in the good way."

Harry would have replied to this somewhat garbled speech but they had arrived at the Great Hall.

Great Hall

Harry and Draco sat down at the far end of the Slytherin table, away from the teacher's table.  They helped themselves to some breakfast and were eating and chatting about the latest broomstick, the Galaxy.  

Suddenly a dark shadow fell over them.  Harry glanced up warily.

Ron and Hermione were bearing down on them with equally dark looks on their faces.

"_Where were you_?" Ron said in a low, angry tone.

"When?" Harry asked, looking confused.

"Last night," Hermione said pointedly.  "We were supposed to meet in the library after dinner to study.  Remember?"

Harry sighed.  "I'm sorry.  I forgot.  I had something important to take care of."

"What could be more important than studying?" Hermione asked shrilly.  

"Look, give him a break," Draco cut in.  

Ron shot him a furious look.  "_You_ keep out of it.  You're a bad influence.  Tell me you didn't blow us off for him again Harry."

Hermione, remembering her discussion with Ginny about the golden sparks, placed her hand warningly on his arm.  She didn't want Ron to insult Draco so much that Harry would feel like he would lose his best friend if he pursued a relationship with the blonde boy.

The discussion came to a grinding halt as they became aware of shrieks from the other end of the room.  A man was striding down the Hall towards them and they could hear shrieks of "Oh my god, Sirius Black" from all over the hall.  

Harry broke into a grin.  There could only be one reason why Sirius would waltz into the Great Hall like that.  He stood up and as Sirius got closer, he threw his arms around his godfather.  

"You're really free?" he asked as they pulled apart.  

Sirius returned his grin.  "Yep.  Thanks to you and Draco."

"What?" Hermione asked, her face frozen with shock.

"But I have to say, I was not impressed to hear what you had to do to get Wormtail here," Sirius continued, trying to sound stern but it didn't really work as he couldn't keep the ecstatic smile off his face.

"Sit down with us, have some breakfast," Harry said, waving Sirius into the empty seat opposite him and Draco.  The rest of the crowd in the Great Hall had gone back to their meals as it became apparent that Sirius Black was no danger to anyone.

Harry glanced up at Ron and Hermione, who were still standing there staring at them.  "Ron, Hermione.  This is where I was last night when I was supposed to be studying with you.  I'm sorry I forgot that I was supposed to meet you but I think you'll agree that this was big enough to make me forget.  I'll tell you about it later."

They both nodded to him and wandered back to their own tables.  They still seemed a bit dazed by the whole thing.   

"So does this mean I can live with you now?" Harry asked Sirius eagerly as Draco stared down at his eggs.

"Sure.  I'll have to sort out my house.  It was closed up when… well, you know.  But it will be done by Christmas," Sirius said happily, helping himself to some bacon.

Harry glanced at Draco.  The blonde boy was delicately nibbling on a corner of some toast, trying to look uninterested in the conversation.  Harry returned his gaze to his godfather.  "How big is your house?"

"Uh, pretty big.  Three bedrooms, living room, bathroom, kitchen, you know, a normal house.  Not too far from Remus's which is good," Sirius answered in a thoughtful tone.

"Would it be okay…I mean, I would understand if it's not…but uh," Harry stumbled, not sure if he should ask.

"Spit it out, Harry," Sirius said with an indulgent grin.

"Alright, would it be okay if Draco lived with us?" Harry asked with hopeful eyes.  Draco's head snapped up but he stayed silent.

"Of course he can," Sirius said enthusiastically.  "I'd be honoured to have two heroes living with me."

Harry and Draco grinned at each other.

Sirius continued eating his bacon and scrambled eggs but his expression turned pensive.  "Harry, would you…" Sirius waved his fork in the direction of Harry's arm.  "Would you show me?"

Harry's happy expression died but he pulled up his sleeve.  

Sirius stared at it sadly.  "I'm sorry that you had to do that to gain my freedom.  I suppose you have a matching one," he said to Draco.

Draco nodded mutely and pulled up his sleeve for a second.  

"Do the Ministry know?" Harry asked, suddenly realising that if Sirius was free then they would have to be involved in the process.  

Sirius nodded.  "Yeah, Dumbledore told them.  It's better that they know now and that they know why you had to join, otherwise, if they discovered it some other way you could end up in Azkaban."

Both Harry and Draco looked horrified.  Neither of them had even thought of that.  Harry brushed his thigh against Draco's under the table in a show of silent support.  Draco pushed back slightly and they both took comfort from the reassuring pressure.  The possible implications of their actions were starting to dawn on them.

"So how long have you two been friends?" Sirius asked while buttering a piece of toast.  "Last I heard, you two were bitter enemies."

"Well, we kind of got to know each other better since we we've been in the same house," Harry replied sheepishly.  Now that they were friends, their old rivalry seemed a bit silly – even if they did sometimes slip back into the old pattern of behaviour.  

TBC


	9. Consequences

~ Chapter Nine : Consequences ~

Dumbledore's Office

Harry and Draco sat side by side in front of Dumbledore's desk.  The headmaster was gazing at them while sucking on a sherbet lemon.  Finally he swallowed.

"Boys, I understand why you did what you did and that you were doing it for a good cause.  We have been trying to prove Sirius's innocence for a long time now," Dumbledore sighed.  "However, I must say I am not impressed by the means by which you accomplished this feat."

Harry looked terribly guilty.  He hated disappointing Dumbledore and he knew that, although he was happy to be free, Sirius was also disappointed that Harry had had to go to such extreme lengths to gain his freedom.  

"I will have to inform the school of these events tonight before dinner.  It would not do for a student to see the dark mark on one of your wrists and panic.  Both of you will also apologise to Mr Abbot and Mr Bones for sullying their reputations, in my office after dinner," Dumbledore said firmly.

"Yes, sir," Harry said quietly.  Draco nodded.

"One more thing," Dumbledore suddenly looked grave.  "Severus will have to inform Voldemort of what really happened last night.  It is the only way to ensure the safety of Mr Abbot and Mr Bones.  However, that will make the two of you targets.  Well, Harry it will make you even more of a target, but Draco, your father will be aware of your true allegiance."

Draco looked slightly shaken.  He'd known this would be the consequence of his actions but to hear Dumbledore say it in such a clear cut tone made it that much more real.  Harry reached over and laced his fingers with Draco's.  Dumbledore's sharp eyes noted the gesture but he did not react to it.  

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry said uncertainly.

"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore replied, a slight twinkle in his eye.

"What about Percy Weasley?  Have you found out anything about him?" Harry asked curiously.  He simply couldn't believe that Percy would willingly join the dark side.

"I'm looking into it," Dumbledore replied, the light dying in his eyes.  Harry frowned.  He hoped for Ron's sake that his brother was going to be a spy and not a real Death Eater.

"Go now, boys.  I'll see you at dinner," Dumbledore said, dismissing them.  

Harry stood up and tugged on Draco's hand to get the blonde boy standing.  They left the office in silence.  Just before the stepped out from behind the Gargoyle, Harry gave Draco's hand a gentle squeeze and then let go.  Neither of them wanted to be seen holding hands just yet.

The Library

Harry had correctly predicted that they would find Hermione, and most likely Ron, in the library.  Their O.W.L's were only eight months away and Hermione would be spending as much time studying for them, as she would spend on homework.  

As predicted, the pair of them were seated at a table in a quiet corner of the library.  The rest of the student body had learnt the hard way not to interrupt Hermione while she was working, so Harry was fairly confident that they could talk without being interrupted.

Harry shot Draco a reassuring smile and strode over to face his best friends, who undoubtedly had many questions.  Draco trailed after him, cursing his bad luck for falling for someone with such appallingly bad taste in friends.  He and Harry were on the edge of…something and he didn't want to share it (or Harry) with anyone else.  It was such a tentative, tremulous relationship that they had and Draco was loathe to test it just yet.  Especially considering that Harry and himself had yet to discuss exactly what was going on between them.

"What's _he_ doing here?" he heard Ron hiss at Harry.  

"Relax, Weasley.  I'm not going to hex you in the middle of the library," Draco drawled, his eyes as mocking as his tone.

"I should hope not," Hermione said, glaring at both Draco and Ron.  "Now Harry, sit down and tell us everything."

Harry grimaced slightly but sat down as he was ordered.  Draco, wishing he could be anywhere but with former Gryffindors, sat down in a chair next to Harry.

"Well, let's see.  Draco and I got to talking, in the common room and he told me about Wormtail visiting his house with Voldemort, which gave me the idea of capturing him so Sirius could be proven innocent," Harry explained, glossing over the details.

"Oh please," Hermione said scathingly.  Draco, Harry and Ron stared at her, startled by her abrupt tone.  "There's more to it than that.  Sirius said you had to do something that disappointed him.  What was it?"

"Okay, fine.  So…we…uh," Harry stumbled over the words.  It hadn't seemed so bad in theory, getting the dark mark.  And even explaining it to Dumbledore and Sirius hadn't been too bad.  But to tell Ron and Hermione, that was going to be tough.

Suddenly, Harry was aware of a hand on his knee, under the table.  Draco.  The blonde wasn't looking at him, he was currently glaring at Ron, but Harry could tell he was aware of Harry's discomfort and was offering reassurance.  It gave Harry the strength he needed to get through this conversation.

As Harry recounted the events of the previous night, Draco watched Weasley and Granger closely.  Naturally they were both horrified in all the right places but Draco's eyes narrowed as he noticed Granger's calculating glance between himself and Harry.  She definitely knows something, Draco thought, remembering her strange behaviour during Herbology.  She knows something I don't and I don't like it.

"Well, I can't say I'm all that impressed by the two of you becoming Death Eaters, but I guess it was for a good reason," Hermione said finally, after Harry had finished his story.

Ron stood up, looking furious.  "It was you, wasn't it!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at Draco.  "You somehow convinced him to become a Death Eater with you!"

"Don't be stupid, Ron," Harry said angrily before Draco could defend himself.  "I had to talk him into it.  He was dead set against either of us becoming Death Eaters.  And besides, we didn't plan for that to happen.  We just wanted to get close enough to Wormtail to be able to portkey him to Dumbledore's office."

Both Ron and Hermione looked as surprised by this announcement as they were by Harry's anger.  It took a lot to make Harry angry, especially Ron but it seemed as if the red-head had succeeded this time.  Ron sat back down, looking defeated.  It seemed that he had lost his best friend to a Malfoy.  A Malfoy!

Draco looked annoyed that his true loyalties had been revealed.  He tried to glare at Harry but it didn't hold the venom that it once did.

Harry grinned at him.  "Don't look like that, Drac.  It was bound to come out sooner or later that you're a good person."

Draco stared defiantly at the three of them.  "Just because I'm not evil doesn't mean I'm going to be nice to anyone."

"Of course not," Harry agreed, still grinning at the blonde.  "Do you think you might make an exception for some people?"

"Perhaps I might be nice to one person," Draco allowed as he gazed levelly at Harry, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.

Hermione stifled a grin as she realised they were flirting.  Who would have realised, she thought, that all these years of fighting were actually a bizarre form of foreplay!

Great Hall

That evening, Harry and Draco sat together at the Slytherin table silently.  Sirius was again seated opposite them but the happy mood from breakfast was gone.  

Eventually Dumbledore stood up.  "I will not keep you from your dinner.  However, I have an important announcement.  As you all know, Sirius Black is staying with us at the moment.  His innocence was finally proven last night after many years.  However, his freedom comes at a terrible cost.  Last night, two of our students were initiated as Death Eaters."  

Many students looked horrified at this news.

Dumbledore continued sombrely.  "They were forced to do this so they could get close to the man who framed Sirius.  Obviously they were successful in capturing him and Peter Pettigrew is now in Azkaban awaiting trial.  That still leaves us with the problem of the two students who are now sporting the dark mark on their wrists.  They are two students who are firmly on our side and you need not fear them."

Dumbledore paused, as was his habit when imparting particularly remarkable news.

"The two students are Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter," Dumbledore finally stated when he was confident that he held the attention of every single person in the room.

There was instant uproar as every single head swivelled around to face them.  Draco glared around at them all, as if daring them to confront him about it.  The former Slytherins looked absolutely shocked that Draco had joined Dumbledore.

Seamus and Fred were staring at Harry like he was some sort of hero.

"You actually went to a Death Eater Meeting and were initiated?" Fred said, awed.

Harry nodded warily.

"Wow, can I see it?" Fred asked.  Seamus looked interested too.

Harry reluctantly pulled back his sleeve and showed the boys the tattoo.

"Cool," Seamus said excitedly.

"No, it is not cool," Sirius said sternly, glaring around at the two of them.  They looked suitably chastened but Harry could see a sparkle in their eyes still.

Food suddenly appeared on the tables and interest in Harry and Draco died in favour of eating.  

Dumbledore's office

After dinner, Harry stepped into Dumbledore's office and encountered a very angry Michael Abbot and Alex Bones.  

"You bastard," Alex snarled before slamming his fist into Harry's face.  Harry fell backwards against Draco who had followed him in.  

"Now, boys, I hardly think that sort of behaviour is called for," McGonagall said sternly.  

Both Snape and McGonagall were present as they were the heads of houses of the students involved.  Dumbledore was seated behind his desk, looking disappointed at all of them.

"Sit down, all of you," Snape snapped, his eyes flashing angrily around at them all.

The four students sat down – the Slytherins on one side and the Gryffindors on the other.  McGonagall and Snape remained standing.

Alex and Michael were glaring furiously at Harry and Draco.  Harry rubbed his jaw and winced.  It seemed that Alex packed quite a punch and he knew, based on his recent history with Draco that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't heal it with magic.  

"I have told the boys about the Polyjuice Potion," Dumbledore said gently to Harry and Draco.  The two Slytherins looked away guiltily.  

"I just want to thank you both," Michael said icily.  "Not only do many people believe we are Death Eaters, but now most of the school thinks we're gay.  So thank you very much for making our last year at Hogwarts such a memorable time."

"Why on earth would the students think you are gay?" McGonagall asked them, looking confused.

"There is a rumour flying around the school that Bones and Abbott were walking through the school last night holding hands," Snape said, arching an eyebrow questioningly at Draco and Harry.

Harry blushed and stared down at the floor while Draco glared at everyone.  

"So it was us, so what?" Draco demanded.  

"OH MY GOD!" Alex exploded.  "You have no idea what you've done, do you?  And you don't even care.  You have ruined our lives.  I could kill you for what you've done."

Draco paled as it sank in that he had played with two people's lives without really thinking about the consequences for those two people, but he refused to look away from Alex's eyes.  

"That is enough," Dumbledore said finally.  "Harry, Draco, apologise to the boys and then you may go back to your dorm."

"I'm sorry," Harry murmured, glancing over at the two stricken seventh years.

"I'm sorry too," Draco said, and actually sounded like he meant it.

The two Slytherins slipped out of the room and fled back to their common room.

TBC


	10. Hermione

~ Chapter 10 : Hermione ~

Halfway down the corridor towards the Slytherin dorms, Draco stopped suddenly.  Harry kept walking, but stopped when he realised Draco wasn't beside him any more.  

"Draco?" Harry asked, turning to stare at the Slytherin standing five feet behind him.

"I have something to take care of.  I'll see you back at the common room later," Draco said distantly as he turned to stalk down the corridor in the opposite direction before Harry could reply.  

Draco headed straight for the library.  The most obvious place to find Hermione.  Luckily she was studying alone  this time.

"Granger," Draco said curtly as he sat down at the table opposite her.  

"Malfoy," Hermione replied warily.  She placed her quill down on top of her parchment and looked at him speculatively.  

"You know something," Draco said, his gaze direct and unwavering.

"I know a lot of things," Hermione said with a self-deprecating smile.

"I know you know something.  Something about me…and Harry," Draco said softly.  "Tell me."

"I don't think I should," replied Hermione, becoming serious again.

"Oh but you should," Draco said threateningly.

"I really do think it's for the best-" Hermione started to say before she was brutally cut off.  Draco stood up and leant across the desk, his face darkening with anger.

"Don't give me that crap.  I'm sick of seeing that annoying expression on your face whenever Harry and I are around, like your just waiting for something to happen.  Tell.  Me.  Now."

Hermione pursed her lips and glared defiantly up at him.  "No."

Draco looked shocked but he quickly masked it with his usual contemptuous glare.  "Don't make me threaten you."

"As opposed to what you've already been doing?" Her tone was mocking but he could see a tinge of fear creeping into her eyes.  

"Let's deal," Draco suddenly suggested, sitting back down.  He knew he couldn't really threaten her.  Not if he wanted Harry to…well, not if he wanted Harry.

Hermione was once again wary.  "What?"

"Let's deal," Draco repeated, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.  Bloody Grif- Damn Dumbledore and his bloody re-sorting.  Couldn't even fucking insult anyone anymore.

Hermione appeared to consider the suggestion.  Her expression changed from contemplative to calculating in the matter of a second.  Draco began to feel afraid, very afraid.

"Alright," Hermione said, leaning forward.  "I want you to stop insulting Ron."

Draco grimaced.  This had better be good information.  "Fine."

"I want you to call Ron and I by our given names," Hermione continued, smirking.

"What? But I already gave you something.  You need to tell me something now," Draco protested.  He wasn't used to being the one who was being screwed.

"You need to ask yourself, is my information really that good.  I assure you it is, but you need to decide what it's worth to you," Hermione said smugly.

Draco had never hated her more than at that moment.  He swore profanely, causing some nearby first years to stare at him in shocked silence.  He glared at them and they hurriedly returned to their study.  They'd heard all about Draco Malfoy and his family.

The trouble was, Draco knew she wasn't lying.  The information really was that good and he just knew she was going to take him for all he was worth.  Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

He sighed deeply and glanced around the library.  No one was looking anymore.  "Fine, you win," he said quietly.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, grinning as she cupped her hand around her ear.  "I didn't hear you."

"Fuck off, Granger," Draco drawled, glaring at her again.

"Oh, no, that's not part of our deal," Hermione reminded him.

"Fuck off, Hermione," Draco said, as he sat back in his chair, leg crossed, looking relaxed and in control, as always.  Unfortunately, appearances could be deceiving.

"I think you're a bit confused as to who has the power here," Hermione said, relishing every minute of it.

Draco didn't reply.  

"Now, I want you to stop tormenting Ron, to call Ron and I by our first names and I want you to…" Hermione paused.  She wanted to make this last request really, really good.  She knew she could only push Draco so far before he snapped so three things was probably as much as she could get.  Suddenly she realised something more important than revenge.  "I want you to promise me that you'll tell Harry about this as soon as you see him tonight."

Draco looked surprised.  He'd expected her to ask for his first born child.  "Okay."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Hermione warned.  "I'm going to quiz Harry about this at breakfast tomorrow."

"I already said, okay," Draco said, looking confused.

"Yeah, well you just remember that," Hermione said again.  "Alright, here it is.  Ginny filled me in on what the golden sparks mean.  Apparently her parents went through the same thing.  If the sparks appear the first time two people touch…well, it means that they are…soulmates."

"WHAT?" Draco exploded, shooting out of his chair.  He started pacing around the table, glancing at Hermione every now and again.  "Surely you don't believe this crap?"

"I admit I was sceptical at first but then I did some research and I discovered…" Hermione paused again.  Perhaps she'd already said enough.

"What? What did you discover?" Draco demanded roughly.  He raked a hand through his hair.  This was unbelievable.

"Well, I found a reference to it in a book about Salazar Slytherin.  Apparently he and Rowena Ravenclaw experienced these sparks themselves.  Anyway, in this book, there were extracts from his journal and although they had some ferocious fights, there was also an amazing passion there too," Hermione explained quietly.  

Draco was silent.  His mind was swirling with all manner of thoughts.  "I…I have to go."

"Remember your promise," Hermione said firmly.

Draco just stared at her blankly.

"You promised that you would tell Harry about this tonight," Hermione reminded him.

Oh, shit.  Harry.  "You tell him," Draco said desperately.

"No.  You tell him," Hermione said decisively.

Slytherin Common Room

Harry sat playing Exploding Snap with Fred and Seamus.  He was losing horribly, mainly because his mind was elsewhere.  Where the fuck was Draco?

"Aha!" Fred crowed as he won the next hand.  "You owe me 5 galleons, Seamus."

"Five? It was only four!" Seamus insisted.

"I think you will find, Seamus, that it was in fact five," Fred countered with a smirk.

Harry lost what little interest he had held in the argument when Draco stepped into the common room.  Harry's eyes narrowed.  The blonde looked seriously rattled.  For someone who was normally so contained, it was strange to see him actually reacting to something.

Draco glanced at Harry once and headed up the stairs to the dormitory.  Harry threw down his cards and followed him up into the dormitory.

Harry entered their bedroom to find Draco pacing around the room like a caged animal.

"What's up?" Harry asked curiously.  It had to be something serious.

Draco didn't answer.  His gaze flickered over to Harry and then flitted around the room.  

"Drac, tell me what's going on," Harry said, his voice firmer this time.  "Tell me!"

"Oh don't worry, I'll tell you, she made sure of that," Draco laughed bitterly.

"What? Who?" Harry asked, he was getting confused.

"Hermione.  I have to fucking call her by her first name now.  Ron too," Draco said angrily.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Harry asked exasperatedly.  

"Hermione.  I could tell she knew something about us.  She always gets this look in her eyes when she's around us.  So I went to talk to her," Draco said.  

"What did she say?" Harry asked, sitting down on his bed and staring up at Draco expectantly.

"She fucking blackmailed me or manipulated me or something.  She fucking screwed me!" Draco snarled.  He snatched up a book and waved it around, as if he might throw it.

Harry frowned.  "Hermione wouldn't do something like that."

"Oh yes.  Saint Hermione.  Angel Hermione.  Of course she wouldn't do something like that," Draco spat out angrily.  "Do you know what she fucking did? She made me promise to not fight with Ron anymore and I have to call then _Ron _and _Hermione_."

Harry burst out laughing.  "Good for her!"

Draco froze.  "What?" he asked icily.

Harry stopped laughing abruptly.  "What?  She only made you promise to do things that you should be doing anyway."

Draco glared at him.  

"So what did she say – after she made you promise all this stuff?" Harry persisted.  It must have been good for her to be able to drag all that out of Draco.

"She said that Ginny knew what the sparks were.  She knew instantly from the sounds of things," Draco said simply.  

"But she never said," Harry said, stunned.

"There's a lot she hasn't said," Draco said dryly.

"So what's the deal with these spark things?" Harry asked, eager once again.

Harry was surprised to see Draco looking cagey.  

"Oh fuck.  I have to tell you.  That was the third thing she made me promise.  That I would tell you," Draco swore again.  Bloody Gr-Hermione.

"So just fucking tell me already!" Harry bellowed.

"Fine!" Draco bellowed back.  "It means we're soulmates. Alright?  It means we're fucking soulmates."

Harry's eyes widened in shock.  He'd never expected an answer like that.

Draco gazed at him for a moment before storming out of the room.

Harry stared blankly at the door.  "We're what?"  

He barely had a chance to process this information before Seamus and Justin entered the room.  Harry got ready for bed, ignoring the other two.  The routine comforting as he didn't even have to think about it.

Finally he lay under his covers, the curtains pulled around his bed giving him the illusion of privacy.  Draco wasn't back yet.  God knows where he'd gone.  

Soulmates.  God.  Harry felt a grin spread across his face.  He had been enjoying flirting with Draco and imagining a relationship between them but this was an unexpected delight.  They were soulmates, meant to be.  Family….forever.

Great Hall

Harry was sitting at the Slytherin table helping himself to some toast when Draco dropped into the seat next to him.  Draco hadn't returned to the dormitory last night and this was the first time Harry had seen Draco since he'd dropped the bombshell.

"How're you doing?" Harry asked him quietly.

"Fine," he replied shortly.  His gaze darkened as he noticed a particular Ravenclaw student hovering over them.

"Harry, how are you this morning?" Hermione asked anxiously, her gaze flitting from Harry to Draco.

"I'm fine.  I know, if that's your next question," Harry said dryly.

"I'm glad to hear Malfoy kept one of his promises," Hermione replied lightly.

Drac shot straight up and glared at her.  "If we are going to be on a fucking first name basis, _Hermione_, then you could at least return the courtesy by calling _me _by my first name."

Hermione glanced down at Harry but he was nodding in agreement with Draco.

"Fine.  Draco," she said before turning to return to the Ravenclaw table.

"Bitch," Draco muttered under his breath as he sat back down.

Harry didn't reply.  He glanced up as Sirius joined them again.  

"Sirius, you know a lot about magic," Harry said.

"This sounds ominous," Sirius said with a grin.  The grin faded as Harry and Draco stared back with grave faces.  "What?"

"Have you ever heard of gold sparks appearing when two people touch for the first time?" Harry asked, trying to make it sound like he was merely curious.

Sirius instantly looked excited.  "Who is she?"

"What? No one.  I just want to know.  You know, for…uh…Divination," Harry said quickly.  It sounded like something they might learn about in Divination.

"Oh," Sirius looked slightly disappointed.  "Well, they mean that the two people are soulmates.  They are perfectly complemented by the other.  Like your mum and dad.  Boy, I remember the first time they actually touched."   Sirius became nostalgic as he stared into the distance.  "It was third year and Lily and James were fighting, as they usually did.  But this time Lily slapped Prongs across the cheek.  Sparks flew everywhere.  Of course it didn't stop them fighting.  They were in denial for a while after that but obviously it worked out for the best."

"Are there any…benefits to this?" Draco asked.

"Benefits?" Sirius thought for a moment.  "I think it depends on the couple.  I know Lily and James could communicate almost telepathically.  I mean, they couldn't actually speak to each other in their minds but it was freaky the way they just knew what the other person was thinking."

"How long did it take them to develop that?" Harry asked, reaching for another bit of toast.

"Well, they became aware of the sparks in third year…I think it wasn't until sixth year that we began to notice it but it didn't really start until after Hogwarts.  It reached full strength when they were married," Sirius said.

"Are there any bad thi-" Draco began before he was cut off by a lot of shrieking and a load of giggles coming from the Gryffindor table.

The Slytherins all glanced around the hall to see what all the fuss was about.  Harry and Draco were instantly aware that all eyes were on them.  Suddenly, Alex Bones and Michael Abbot stood up on their chairs.  The hall fell silent, just waiting to see what the boys were going to do.

"Professor Dumbledore told you last night about Potter and Malfoy going to the Death Eater meeting to capture a criminal.  What he didn't tell you was that they used Polyjuice Potion so no one would know it was them," Michael said angrily.

"They used our hair so they would look like us!" Alex said, glaring over at the two Slytherins.  "Then they came back to Hogwarts and skipped down the hall hand in hand!"

TBC

A.N. Here are the lyrics for the song 'On A Clear Day' which is obviously where I got the title from.  I was stuck for a title for this fic and this popped into my head.  I thought I'd share it with you because it isn't a very good name really.

On a clear day   
Rise and look around you   
And you'll see who you are   
On a clear day   
How it will astound you   
That the glow of your being   
Outshines every star   
You'll feel part of every mountain sea and shore   
You can hear   
From far and near   
A word you've never, never heard before...   
And on a clear day...On a clear day...   
You can see forever...   
And ever...   
And ever...   
And ever more. . .


	11. Quidditch Trials

~ Chapter 11 : Quidditch Trials ~

Great Hall, breakfast

Suddenly, Alex Bones and Michael Abbot stood up on their chairs.  The hall fell silent, just waiting to see what the boys were going to do.

"Professor Dumbledore told you last night about Potter and Malfoy going to the Death Eater meeting to capture a criminal.  What he didn't tell you was that they used Polyjuice Potion so no one would know it was them," Michael said angrily.

"They used our hair so they would look like us!" Alex said, glaring over at the two Slytherins.  "Then they came back to Hogwarts and skipped down the hall hand in hand!"

"Oh. My. God," Seamus said, staring at Harry and Draco with his mouth hanging open.  Everyone else in the hall had started whispering and giggling along with the Gryffindors. 

Hermione had dropped her head on the Ravenclaw table with a bang and Ginny was anxiously questioning her.  Both seemed upset at Alex's revelation.

Fred (and George over at the Ravenclaw table) both looked stunned as they realised what they actually had seen the other night.

Ron had gone as white as a sheet and was staring at Harry.  He didn't seem to have comprehended what he'd just been told.

Draco swore under his breath and stood up on his own chair.  "Alright, that's enough," Draco said, glaring over at Bones and Abbott.  "Yes, it was us.  We took Polyjuice Potion to go to the Death Eater meeting."

Gasps could be heard all over the hall.  It wasn't like Draco to just come out and admit stuff like that.  The teachers appeared to be uninterested in what was going on but Harry privately thought that they were just waiting for it to move beyond talking before making a move.  

"I'm sure the Dark Lord would have been really receptive if Harry and I had just waltzed in to his meeting," Draco drawled sarcastically.  "We'd probably be dead now if we did that.  It was not our intention to involve others in this plan but we didn't have a choice.  An innocent man is now free.  Let's keep things in perspective here."

Everyone appeared to be a little disappointed with Draco's declaration, as he hadn't mentioned the one thing they were most interested in.

"What about the hand holding?" someone called out.  Others voiced their approval of this question.  

"No comment," Draco said curtly before sitting back down on his seat.  He reached for some toast and totally ignored everyone around him.  Even Harry, although he was uncomfortably aware of every move the former-Gryffindor made.

"So Harry," Sirius said with a mischievous grin.  "All those questions about Soulmate Sparks.  Still want to tell me that it's just for Divination?"

Harry glared at his godfather and refused to answer.

Quidditch Pitch

"Alright," shouted Madam Hooch.  "I want people trying out for Keeper over here, people trying out for Beater over there, Chaser over this side, and Seeker next to them."

The new members of Slytherin house shuffled into the space she indicated.  Trials were being held to form a new house team.  Every house was having them and Slytherin was last.  Ron had been ecstatic to have made it onto the Hufflepuff team although he would never admit it.  He kept complaining about the fact that it was Hufflepuff and they were always last but Harry reminded him that since the houses had been mixed up, he had Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Slytherins in there with him.

"Well, looks like we've got a seeker," Hooch said, smiling over at Harry who was standing alone in the space reserved for seekers.

No one was brave enough to compete with Harry for the position.  They all knew he'd beat them anyway so they were trying out for positions they thought they might stand a chance at getting.  Even Draco was doing that.  He was standing in the beater spot, a little apart from the group.

Draco had been upset when the Quidditch trials had been announced a couple of weeks earlier.  He'd known that he'd never beat Harry for the position of seeker.  He might have bribed his way onto the Slytherin team in second year, but he was actually a pretty good player in his own right.  He'd just ensured that there hadn't been any trials that year.  Now he wished he hadn't done that, as he would have liked to know if he could have made it on talent alone.  But that was in the past and couldn't be changed now.  But he could change the future.  So instead of killing himself trying to beat Harry, he had decided go for another position and play on the same team as Harry.

Harry stared at Draco, a confused expression on his face.  He'd had no idea the blonde was going to do that when they'd walked to the pitch after breakfast.  Draco wasn't looking at him and hadn't ever since the debacle at breakfast.  Harry had to admit that he missed Draco, even though he hadn't been more than a few metres away from him at any given time.  

Hooch beckoned Harry over to her and sent up six chasers, four beaters and two keepers to play a mock game (without the snitch).  She and Harry took notes on the players and when they felt they had a good handle on the players strengths and weaknesses, Hooch called them down and sent up a new lot.  This continued until everyone had had their chance.  

"Alright, Harry and I will decide on a team and I'll post the results in the common room tonight along with a practice schedule.  The first game is in three weeks," Hooch said to the hopeful students before shooing them off the pitch.

"What do you think?" she asked Harry as she returned to sit in the stands with him.

"I think Fred Weasley is a definite for beater," Harry replied.  The Weasley twin had proved today that he wasn't just one half of a formidable team.  He was a great beater in his own right and with the right partner, he would form another formidable team.

"And the second beater?" Hooch asked.

"I may be biased but I really think Draco was the best of the rest of them," Harry said honestly.

"I agree with you," Hooch said with a smile.  "The rest were shit."

Harry stared at her in shock as she merely grinned back at him.  He mentally shrugged.  Hogwarts flying instructor had always been unconventional.

"Now, for keeper, I thought Justin was rather good," Hooch said, considering her notes.

"I thought he had potential too," Harry agreed.

"Now, the difficult bit," Hooch said with a sigh.  "Chasers."

"Those fourth years, Dennis Creevey and Owen Cauldwell worked well together when they were playing.  They were pretty cohesive.  Mandy Brocklehurst who was playing chaser with them wasn't much help but the other two still managed to score," Harry commented, glancing down at his scribbled notes.

"Yes, but that could also be due to the fact that they were up against that third year as keeper.  He was utterly pathetic," Hooch said flatly.

"Who would you suggest then?" Harry asked, a little hurt that his suggestion had been rejected.

"That Finnigan chap was pretty good, if he would just stop talking and concentrate on the game," Hooch said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, we could call him and Dennis and Owen back and we could see how they work together as a team," Harry suggested.

"Oh god, no.  I'm meeting Se- I mean, I have a previous engagement," Hooch said quickly.  "Those three will be good, with a bit of practice."

Harry just stared at her.  What had she been going to say?

A top secret underground evil lair

Voldemort sat in an ornately carved mahogany chair at the end of very large cavern.  A pale man was standing before him.  They were alone in this top secret underground room. 

"Do you know why I summoned you here?" Voldemort asked, sounding as relaxed as someone trying to take over the world could sound.

"No my Lord," Lucius Malfoy replied hopefully.  He prayed that the Dark Lord was not angry with him.

"Remember those two boys you brought to the meeting last week?" Voldemort continued as if he hadn't heard Lucius.

"Yes my Lord," Lucius replied, beginning to sound confused.

"Do you know who they were?" Voldemort hissed, leaning forward in his chair.

"Michael Abbott and Alex Bones," Lucius replied confidently.

"Wrong!" Voldemort said angrily before saying the one word Lucius had hoped he wouldn't.  "Crucio."

Lucius fell to his knees but he refused to scream.  He wouldn't give that slimy bastard the pleasure of hearing him scream in pain.  Eventually the curse was lifted.

"Would you like to know who they really were?" Voldemort asked icily.  "They used Polyjuice Potion apparently.  Quite clever really.  They succeeded in sending Wormtail to Azkaban.  I've lost my right hand man, Lucius and _all because of you_."

Lucius kept his face impassive as he took in this information.  This was bad.  Very, very bad.

"It was your son," Voldemort hissed.  "Your son and Harry Potter.  The Boy Who Lived was right here in my midst and he just walked away.  At least he is marked now."

Lucius stared at Voldemort in shock.  "Draco?"

"Yes, dear Draco.  Would you like to hear more good news?" Voldemort asked maliciously.

Lucius nodded warily.

"Your son and Harry Potter are, shall we say, something of an item," Voldemort said delicately.  

"What? No!" Lucius said forcefully.  "Draco's not…gay."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Voldemort asked with a deadly calm.

"No! No, of course not my Lord," Lucius said quickly.  He had lost his infamous cool and was struggling to regain it.  He was beginning to regret taking credit for bringing the boys to the meeting.  

"I think you _were_ calling me a liar," Voldemort said almost lazily before pointing his wand back at Lucius.  "Crucio."

Slytherin common room

"Woohoo, I made the team!" Seamus cried happily as he read the list.

Madam Hooch had posted a list of all the house teams as she believed it was fairer that way.  Besides, word had gotten around about the teams pretty quickly.  It was impossible to keep a secret in a boarding school.

"I can't believe Hermione made the Ravenclaw team," Harry said in awe.  "I mean I've played with her at the Burrow a few times and she's okay but to be able to make a house team.  Wow."

"Well, Malfoy, since we'll be playing together as a team, I hope we'll be able to put the past behind us so we can win the Quidditch Cup," Fred said cautiously.

Draco glanced over at him.  Harry could tell he was pleased to be a Beater too.  "Sure, Weasley.  For the good of the team."

He held out his hand.  Fred glanced at it for a moment before shaking it vigorously.  

Later that night, Harry lay in his bed staring up at the canopy when the curtains around his bed opened and Draco slipped in and under the covers.  Harry stared at him.  They'd hardly spoken all day, Draco had stayed tantalisingly close but never close enough and now he was getting into bed with him?  Talk about mixed messages!

"What?" Harry whispered.  Draco held up his hand for silence as he pulled out his wand and cast a silencing charm.

"What?" Harry asked again, in a more normal tone of voice.

"I just wanted to talk when we don't have the whole school watching us," Draco said, smiling at Harry.

"You noticed that too?" Harry asked wryly.  "Congratulations on getting Beater, by the way."

"Thanks," Draco said, grinning proudly.

TBC

A.N. A Quidditch chapter especially for SuperDuperBoy who requested one.  I know it's not a game but the teams had been mixed up so I had to sort that out.  Battle's will be coming up but again, they might not be what you had in mind.

The new Quidditch Teams:

            Slytherin          

**Seeker             Harry Potter   **

**Keeper            Justin Finch-F**

**Beater             Fred Weasley          **

**Beater             Draco Malfoy **

**Chaser            Seamus Finnigan        **

Chaser                Dennis Creevey           Chaser             Owen Cauldwell       

**            Gryffindor                  ******

**Seeker             Cho Chang             **

**Keeper            Terry Boot                 **

**Beater             Vincent Crabbe**

**Beater             Alex Bones              **

**Chaser            Lisa Turpin              **

Chaser                Ernie McMillan         

**Chaser  **             Michael Abbott

**            Hufflepuff                 ******

**Seeker             Orla Quirke              **

**Keeper            Ron Weasley          **

**Beater             Blaise Zabini  **

**Beater             Dean Thomas           **

**Chaser            Padma Patil                 **

Chaser                Pavarti Patil                 

**Chaser            Terrence Nott   **

**            Ravenclaw******

**Seeker             Ginny Weasley**

**Keeper            Millicent Bulstrode**

**Beater             George Weasley**

**Beater             Lee Jordan**

**Chaser            Hannah Abbot**

Chaser                Hermione Granger 

**Chaser            Lavender Brown**

Okay, now I know that most of the players are from fourth or fifth year but there are several reasons for this.  Firstly, they won't have to replace the team for a few years.  Secondly, the relationships and history between the players make it more interesting.  Thirdly, I can't be bothered finding the names of the older people.  Plus, we have background information on these characters because they are people Harry interacts with and therefore they are more interesting.  So there.  *grins*  Remember, there is always a reason for everything…


	12. A Declaration Of War

~ Chapter 12 : A Declaration Of War ~

Slytherin Boys Dorm, Harry's bed

Harry glanced over at Draco nervously.  "Did you…uh…well…were you…"

"Just ask, Harry," Draco said lightly, his expression softening as he watched Harry stuttering.  Really, the boy was too cute sometimes.

"Did you ignore me all day today because you want to forget what happened between us?" Harry asked, staring up at the canopy again so he wouldn't have to see Draco's face as he rejected him.

"Is that what you think?" Draco asked, aghast.  He scooted over closer to Harry and, wrapping his arm around Harry's chest, he stared intently down into confused green eyes.  "Oh, honey, no, I just don't want the whole school to keep staring at us like we're animals in a zoo.  I thought that if there was nothing to see then they'd soon get bored and find someone else to watch."

Harry looked up at him hopefully.  "So, you do want to be with me?"

Draco's face became guarded.  "I want to see where this is going," he hedged.  "I don't want to rush into anything though."

Harry reached up to caress Draco's cheek.  "There's no need to rush.  We have all the time in the world."

Draco's face softened and he smiled as he lowered his head to kiss Harry.  

Suddenly the curtains around the bed were thrust apart and a sandy head peered in.  "Aha!  I knew it!"

"Fuck off, Finnigan," Draco said, glaring at him.

"Ooh, I can't wait to tell everyone at breakfast tomorrow," Seamus said breezily as he returned to his own bed.  

Draco's eyes narrowed and he pressed a quick kiss on Harry's lips and told him to stay put.  

Harry watched as Draco leant over Seamus' bed and spoke quietly to the Irishman.  Seamus paled considerably and nodded quickly, agreeing with whatever Draco had said.  Then Draco stood back up, pulled the curtains shut around Seamus' bed and smirked.

"What did you do?" Harry asked as Draco climbed back into bed with him.

"I just reminded him of who he was dealing with," Draco said smugly before snuggling down in the blankets.  "Goodnight."

Harry watched in stunned silence as Draco closed his eyes.  He's going to sleep in my bed? Harry thought.  

"Uh, goodnight then," Harry replied uncertainly.

Harry stared at Draco for a moment before he lay back down on his bed.  He glanced back over at Draco and was startled to see him staring back at him with an amused expression.

"You are so cute sometimes," Draco said, smiling softly at him.  He reached out a hand and brushed Harry's cheek with his fingertips.

Harry reached up and grasped Draco's hand in his own.  He pressed a kiss on Draco's palm and pulled the blonde into his arms.  They snuggled down together and Harry sighed happily.

"Goodnight sweetie," Harry murmured.

"You want me to sleep with you?" Draco asked.

"Isn't that the point of you slipping into my bed each night?" Harry said teasingly.

"You finally figured it out!" Draco said.  "Goodnight honey."

Draco moved up and kissed Harry gently before resting his head on Harry's chest and falling aleep.

Potions Class

Harry and Draco were working quietly on their antidote at a table near the back of the room.  They'd had an argument that morning about whether it was a good idea to work together, considering that the entire school was watching to see if there was a budding romance between the pair of them.  They'd eventually decided that they could care less what the other students thought.  That's not to say that they were indulging their feelings while there were witnesses though.  They were behaving exactly the same way as they did before and they left any affection they might show each other for times when they were alone.  

"Could you pass me the unicorn hair, honey?" Draco asked Harry.  He tried not to laugh at Harry's startled expression in response to the endearment and settled for an affectionate smile instead.

Lisa Turpin and Ernie Macmillan, who were working at the desk in front of them, froze.  Lisa turned around to gawk at them and Draco glared at her.  

"Do you have a problem, Turpin?  Or is it just the usual Gryffindor stupidity?" Draco ground out, angry at having his moment with Harry interrupted.  

"Oh, uh, I…uh," she stuttered.

Draco smirked.  "Eloquent as usual.  Tell me, did they give you classes on how to behave like that when you joined Gryffindor?  Because I seem to remember you had little difficulty expressing yourself when you were in Hufflepuff.  Sure, the words only had one or two syllables, but at least they were words."

Harry was obviously struggling to contain his laughter.  We'll make a true Slytherin out of him yet, Draco thought triumphantly.  And suddenly, Operation: Insult Gryffindors (which was a never-ending operation) became Operation: Make Harry A True Slytherin.

"Malfoy, now that the houses have been mixed up, don't you think it's a little silly to be continuing this house rivalry thing?" Macmillan asked hesitantly.

Draco pretended to consider this.  "No.  Because you see, it really doesn't matter which house you are in, or which house you are from, the fact is you are not a Slytherin and therefore you are not worthy.  Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, it doesn't matter.  They all suck."

"Draco, sweetie, leave them alone," Harry said.

Draco arched an eyebrow at Harry's first attempt at an endearment.  It was good actually.  He liked it.

"They're not worth it," Harry continued.

Draco smiled.  A true smile, just for Harry.  "You're right, honey.  Do you have the next ingredient ready?"

"Yep, here it is, sweetie," Harry replied, handing over the phial.  

The two of them finished their antidote, all the while ignoring everyone else in the class, particularly the Gryffindors.  It seemed that their repeated use of endearments had opened the door to small displays of affection.  Nothing too big, just a touch here, a look there.  Small things that were made bigger by the depth of feeling behind them, which was growing deeper with every gesture.  

By the end of the lesson, the entire class had been made well aware of the budding relationship between the pair of them.  And Draco made sure that they were also aware that if they messed with Harry then they would face harsh consequences.  

The Great Hall

Harry and Draco sat side by side at the Slytherin table, calmly eating their lunch.  Harry could see that something was going on over at the Gryffindor table but he didn't much care what it was so he ignored it in favour of questioning Draco about his behaviour in Potions.

"Drac, why did you suddenly decide to call me honey in the middle of Potions?"

"I like calling you honey," was the reply.

Harry blushed as Draco grinned at him.  

"Okay look," Draco said seriously.  "I know I was the one who said we shouldn't do anything in front of anyone else, but I couldn't wait until tonight to smile at you, or touch you, or call you honey.  I know we'll be talked about for a few days but it'll blow over."

"I missed you too," Harry said quietly as Draco reached out to softly caress his cheek.

"So does this mean I can tell everyone I caught you in Harry's bed last night," Seamus said loudly.

"Fuck _off_ Finnigan," Draco growled at him, his silver eyes flashing, furious at being interrupted yet again.  He turned back to Harry and was about to kiss him when a scroll was passed to Fred who placed it in front of Harry and Draco.

"What now?" Draco moaned, glaring at Fred this time.

"I don't know, they just told me to give it to you," Fred said, motioning to the Ravenclaws on the other side of him.

"They told us to pass it over to you," a Ravenclaw said, gesturing to the Hufflepuffs on the other side of them.  "I think the Gryffindors gave it to them."

"Fucking Gryffindors, always ruining things," Draco said angrily.  He picked up the scroll and unrolled it.

"This is a declaration of war," he read aloud.  Harry's eyes widened.  Fred appeared to be excited.

Draco continued reading.  "The members of Gryffindor house are going to see that you pay for your treachery and deceit.  Since Dumbledore will not punish you, we will."

"What?" Harry said incredulously.

Draco glanced up.  Harry looked adorably confused.  "I believe that Slytherin is now at war with Gryffindor."

"Alright!" said Fred.  "A prank war!  It's been far too long since the last one."

Seamus also looked excited.  "Cool.  What happens now?"

"We wait for them to make the first move," Fred explained.  "They sent the declaration so they are obliged to play the first prank."

"Let's go back to the common room," Draco said quickly.  "We need to discuss this with the rest of the house."

Harry stood up.  "Slytherins," he said, his voice projecting along the table.  "House meeting in the common room, now."

At once the entire house stood up and left the hall.

Slytherin Common Room

Harry stood in front of the fireplace (Draco by his side) and held up his hands for silence.  The entire house was seated around the room and they gradually stopped talking.

"Gryffindor sent us a declaration of war," Harry said.  "We can expect them to play a prank on us before the end of the day."

"Then it will be our turn and trust me, they won't know what hit them," Draco said, grinning maliciously.  

"When they do play the prank, they will be watching for our reaction.  They're hoping to make us mad," Fred said, standing beside Harry.  "The key is to make them think that we _like_ whatever it is that they do.  We need them to think we think it's funny."

"Don't worry, they're complete morons over there," Draco said sardonically.  "The prank will most likely be something completely unintelligent and idiotic."

They all stared at Fred, Harry and Draco in stunned silence.

"Trust no one," Draco said ominously.  "I know that you are all from different houses but you were put into Slytherin for a reason.  Think like a Slytherin.  Gryffindor will not be sparing you just because you used to be one of them."

"This is a vendetta between Bones and Abbott and Draco and me, but we'll let you know if we need your help," Harry said.  He glanced at Fred and Draco.  "Uh, I guess that's all."  

The meeting broke up and everyone hurried off to their next class.

Draco, Harry, Fred, Justin and George met up after classes in the empty Potions classroom. 

"What's he doing here?" Draco asked irritably as he gestured at the Ravenclaw.

"He's on our side.  He wants to help," Fred said quickly.

"Trust me, sweetie.  With the Weasley twins on our side, we'll win this war," Harry said, grinning at Draco.

Draco grinned back before becoming serious.  "Now, strategies…."

The Great Hall

No pranks had been played all day and now the Slytherins were eating their dinner, all wondering what would happen in the next hour.  This was really the last time the Gryffindors had to play their prank before tomorrow.

"It's gonna happen soon," Fred said.  "I have a sense for these things.  It's going to happen in the next few minutes."

Harry glanced around the hall but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.  He turned to comment on this to Draco and gasped.

"Drac, your hair," Harry said in shock.  

"What?" Draco said, holding up his spoon to gaze at his reflection.

"It's turning green," Harry said softly.  

"So's yours," Seamus said.

"All the Slytherin's hair is turning green," Fred said, gesturing around the table.

"This is great!" Draco said with false cheer.  

Harry grinned at him.  "We match!"

The first years were laughing, obviously delighted that they were now sporting their house colour on their heads.  The rest of the house were varied in their reactions, but they were trying to look like they thought it was great.  Fred gave a thumbs up to a few third years who were enthusiastically throwing themselves into the act.

"How long is it going to stay this way?" Justin asked.

"Goodness knows," Fred replied.  "The longer the better."

"What?" Justin said incredulously.

"The longer it stays and we don't care, the more it will piss off the Gryffindors," Fred explained.

"Oh," Justin said, looking a little downcast.  

Fred reached out and slipped his hand into Justin's.  "It'll only be a few days.  Anyway, you look cute with green hair."

Justin smiled shyly at Fred.  Harry grinned at Draco, who raised an eyebrow at this development.

"So now we just need to find a boyfriend for you, eh Seamus," Harry said, nudging the Irishman.

"Aye, I've got my eye on someone," Seamus said, winking at Harry.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out!" Seamus said, laughing.

TBC


	13. Violet Joins The Crusade

~ Chapter 13: Violet Joins The Crusade ~

A dark, deserted corridor, midnight or thereabouts

"Shhh."

Draco turned around to glare at the guys following him.  Harry, Justin, Seamus, Fred and George (the Ravenclaw had insisted on joining them for this mission) were all dressed exactly like Draco – in black muggle clothing complete with beanies and black shoe polish marks under their eyes.

They were standing in a corridor near the Great Hall, their bodies flattened against the wall.

"I was just-"

"Shhh."

"Stop shhhing me!"

"Harry, if you don't shut up…."

"What?"

"I'll sleep in my own bed tonight."

"……"

Finally satisfied that Harry was not going to keep talking, Draco turned around and continued sneaking along the corridor, being careful to stick to the shadows.  

The group came to a halt in front of a portrait of a rather large lady in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" came the aristocratic drawl, along with a raised eyebrow for good measure.  

The twins stepped forward and smiled charmingly at the fat lady.  Draco was not at all surprised to see her smile back.

"Hello boys, I've missed you," she said affectionately.

"Hello Violet," Fred said warmly.

"How are the newbie's treating you?" George asked.

Violet scowled.  "They are the rudest students I've ever had the misfortune of working with."

Fred and George grinned at each other.

"Why just the other day," Violet said, warming up to her subject, "that Bones boy kicked my frame!"

"Don't worry, Violet, love," George said soothingly.

"We'll take care of them for you, if you'll just let us in for a bit," Fred said cajolingly.  

The fat lady looked curious.  "What are you going to do?"

"Just a little redecorating," George said conspiratorially. 

Violet giggled.  "How lovely.  Here you go, sugar." 

The portrait swung open and the six of them scurried in, the twins whispering their thanks to their old partner in crime.  

Silently, the six of them spread out, their tasks already delegated.

Half an hour later, the common room was totally transformed.  They gazed around the new room and grinned at each other.  The Gryffindorks were going to be pissed when they woke up tomorrow.

The windows had been blackened so that the common room resembled the dungeon.  All the red and gold that decorated the room had been changed (using Fred and George's handy colour changing charm) to green and silver.  The chairs were transfigured to be lumpy and hard and the rugs had been transfigured into statues of serpents so that the floor, which had been transfigured into stones, would be bare, hard and cold beneath the Gryffindorks' feet.

The room looked far darker now and was obviously Slytherin in design.  

The six of them silently left the common room and started to creep away, only to be called back by the fat lady.

"What?" Fred asked as they huddled back around her.

Violet smiled mischievously.  "I'm going to change the password so they don't know it tomorrow when they get back from breakfast!  What should the new password be?  Help me think of something."

"Something Slytherin," Seamus said eagerly.

"Don't be an idiot," George started.

"That's too obvious," Fred finished.

"How about something muggle?" suggested Draco.  They all stared at him.

"It's more obscure than something wizard-related," Draco said.

"He's right," George, the Ravenclaw (for a reason), agreed.

"Gryffindors are cowards," Harry said suddenly.

"Perfect," Fred said, grinning at them all.

They all nodded and Violet smiled at them.

"Now this is our secret, boys," she said in a motherly tone.

"Sure," Fred agreed.

"We were never here," George said, winking at her as they slipped down the halls.  

The Great Hall, breakfast

The next morning, the five Slytherins, and three Ravenclaws (George, Ginny and Hermione) were the first at breakfast, sitting at their respective tables.  They ate leisurely and chatted happily as they speculated on the Gryffindors reaction to the prank.  It was surely far superior to the Gryffindork's prank.

They were rewarded, half an hour before breakfast officially ended, as all the members of Gryffindor house entered the hall en masse.  They were silent, seething, glaring over at the Slytherins who were laughing and crowing at the Gryffindors.  News of the prank had spread through the Slytherins like wild fire.

Harry glanced over at Ron.  He was sure that the news would have spread to the Hufflepuffs by now.  He was shocked to see the redhead glaring at him.  In fact, all the Hufflepuffs were glaring at him.  What the hell?

"Draco," Harry said quietly, nudging the blonde boy beside him.  Draco spilt his pumpkin juice and swore.

"What?" he asked irritably.  His gaze softened as he saw the hurt look on Harry's face.  "I'm sorry.  What's wrong?"

"Ron's glaring at me…kind of like he hates me," Harry said, he cringed as he heard his voice sound small and pitiful.  

*

Draco slipped his hand into Harry's and glanced over at the Hufflepuff table, something he usually avoided doing.  Harry was right, the Weasel was glaring at him (he might have to call him Ron to his face, but Draco thought he'd be damned if he'd refer to the Weasel by anything other than his well-deserved nickname in his head).  In fact, it seemed as if the entire house was staring at him, or rather, the Slytherins.  It appeared that the Hufflepuffs were siding with Gryffindor.  

This just proves they're morons, Draco thought sardonically.  Siding with the Griffindorks.  Going against Slytherins, AND the Weasley twins in a prank war.  Well, this just means we have a larger target, Draco thought happily.  

"The Hufflepuffs are fair game," Draco said to Harry, Fred, Justin and Seamus, who rubbed his hands together fiendishly.  

"The Gryffindors are going to retaliate sometime today probably," Fred said.  "We should be ready."

"Whatever we do in response to that should be on a large enough scale that we can take care of the Gryffindors, the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws," Draco said.

"The Ravenclaws?" Justin asked uncertainly.

"_If_ they become involved.  If they join us, then of course they are exempt.  But if they stay neutral…well, we'll decide on a prank by prank basis," Draco said with a grin.  

Draco noticed Harry narrowing his eyes in the direction of the Gryffindors.  He was startled to see Ron standing by the seventh years, talking to Alex Bones.  He didn't think the Weasel would have the balls to go against Harry _and_ his brothers.

Draco tightened his grip on Harry's hand.  

"Ron has joined the enemy," Draco said to the group that made up the core of the Slytherin Resistance.

Fred twisted around and scowled at his younger brother.  He glanced over at George and pointed at Ron.  George twisted around and then grimaced at Fred.  He drew his finger across his throat and Fred nodded emphatically.  

"Ron is fair game," Fred said, his voice hardening.

"What?" Harry asked, shocked.

"If Ron is going to go against his family _pranking_ then Ron is no longer a Weasley," Fred said gravely.  The Weasley twins took their pranks very seriously.

"So what's next?" Seamus asked.

"Well, there is still part two of this prank," Draco reminded him.

"Part two?" Seamus said.

"The password," Draco whispered.  No one else knew about that part of the prank.  That was the perfect bit about it.  Everyone knew about the common room redecoration part of the prank and assumed that was all the Slytherins had done.  Violet would never dob them in and although they would undoubtedly be accused of changing the password, there was no way to prove it.

Seamus giggled.  "Oh yeah."

"Are we assuming that their next prank is going to be as lame as their first one was?" Fred asked.

Draco considered this for a moment.  "They'll escalate," he said authoritatively.  "Of course it will still be lame, just on a larger scale."

"The important thing is to act as if whatever it is is good," Seamus said.

"Hey, we might get lucky and they might do something good," Harry said.

"Why would they do something good?" Justin asked.  "I thought they were trying to humiliate us."

"Well, yeah.  But they're so stupid, they could do something they might think we'll hate but it's actually really good," Harry explained.

Draco just shook his head at Harry's naiveté.  It really was cute.

"Okay, this next prank," Draco said.  "I say we-"

Gryffindor Tower

The Gryffindors stood in front of the portrait guarding the entrance to their common room.  Those at the back couldn't understand what was taking so long.  They had to get their books and get to class.  They were going to be late!  Those at the front of the group were staring at the fat lady in shock.  She was refusing to open.

"Valour," Michael Abbot said for the third time.

"I'm sorry, dear, but that is last weeks password," Violet said serenely.  

"No, it bloody well isn't," Alex said angrily.

"Mr Bones, watch your language please," McGonagall said, as she walked down the corridor towards them, her lips pursed in disapproval.  

"The fat lady won't let us in!" A third year cried.

Violet glared at the insolent child.  None of her children had ever called her the _fat_ lady before Dumbledore's infamous resorting.  She didn't like this new group of Gryffindors at all.

"Valour," McGonagall said to the portrait.

"Oh dear me no, that isn't the password," Violet said, smiling apologetically although she was inwardly seething.

"Prefects?  Where are the prefects?" McGonagall said irritably.  Four students stepped forward.

"Enough of this nonsense.  What did you change the password to?" McGonagall asked.

"Er, I didn't change it," Peter, a sixth year, replied.

"Me either," Jennifer said, shrugging.

Susannah shook her head.

"Nor me," Andrew said.

McGonagall, who had heard all about the prank at breakfast from the indignant students, turned to Violet.  "Who changed the password?"

"Er, I don't remember, dearie," she replied vaguely.

"Violet," McGonagall said sternly.

"I don't remember who it was, just that she was tall and she knew the correct passwords to change the regular password," Violet said quickly.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything else?" McGonagall asked.

Violet nodded her head.  "I'm sure."

"Thank you Violet.  If you remember anything more, be sure to let me know," McGonagall said.  "Now what is the current password?"

"Gryffindors are cowards," Violet said.

Outraged indignation spread through the group.

"It was those Slytherins, I know it!"

"Sneaky Bas…ketballers."

"We're going to get them good for this!"

Slytherin common room

The Slytherins were laughing delightedly at the antics of the angry Gryffindors.  

"Great idea, Harry.  Charming the biggest mirror to show the corridor in front of Violet's portrait!" Fred said, slapping Harry on the back.

"Leave it like that all the time, Harry," Draco instructed, "It'll be good for surveillance."

Draco was silent for a moment while the others continued laughing.  Watching those idiots in the mirror had given him a brilliant idea.

"Hey, I've just had a brilliant idea," Draco said, smirking at the fifth years (and Fred).  The others finally managed to control their laughter and turned to listen to the blonde boy.

"After the Gryffs play their prank, we'll lie low for a few days, make them think we've given up," Draco said slyly.  "Then when they're not expecting it, I say we charm all the mirrors around the castle to show the inside of Gryffindor Tower and the Hufflepuff common room and dorms.  And of course we'll put a few more mirrors around in very public places."

"What about the bathrooms?" Seamus asked.

"Nothing is off limits," Draco replied.

A long, confusing pattern of knocks was heard at the entrance to the Slytherin common room and Fred grinned and stood up to let his twin in.

George looked annoyed as he entered the room.  He didn't even take the time to look around at the new surroundings.  

"Hannah Abbott has convinced the Ravenclaws to join Gryffindor and Hufflepuff in the war against you," George said grimly.  "Lee, Hermione, Ginny and I are on your side of course, but we're the only ones from Ravenclaw who are."

Justin and Seamus groaned as Draco tried to puzzle out where he'd heard the name Abbott before.

"Why does the name Abbott ring a bell?" he asked the group.  

Harry stared at him.  "Michael Abbott, the guy we set up to take the fall for us with Voldemort."

"Who?  Oh right, him.  I'd forgotten about that," Draco said, shrugging it off.  That pawn wasn't important in the whole scheme of things.

"Yeah," George said.  "She was pissed at what you did to her brother and she and Susan Bones are both out for your blood."

"Crap," Harry said, allowing his head to flop back on the couch he was sitting on.  

"So Ravenclaw, apart from those few students who are on our side, are in for the next prank," Draco said decisively.

"Yeah, but I think we need a better idea for a prank," Fred said, grinning at George.  "One that will allow us to have greater control over who is targeted.  As much as I love that mirror prank, Malfoy, the Ravenclaws on our side would be affected by that."

"Let's get Hermione in on this, Ginny and Lee too," Harry suggested.  "I don't know anyone who knows as many spells and charms and potions as Herm."

Draco protested.  "Hey!  You know me!"

"Yeah….?" Harry said, gazing blankly at Draco.

"I know far more than that Mu-Hermione.  My fa- er, well, I know a lot of magic that you won't learn here," Draco finished quietly, hoping the others hadn't heard that lame excuse for speech.  He was usually much more articulate than that.

Fred looked intrigued.  "That could be just what we need.  Something that will put us over the edge, but will not cause us to get expelled.  What would be perfect would be some form of truth spell or potion, or perhaps a mild love potion that could wreak havoc for a few days."

"Love potions are banned by the Ministry and brewing one is punishable with time in Azkaban," Draco said instantly.

"O-kay," Harry said, looking a bit disturbed by the fact that Draco sounded like he had memorised the law regarding love potions.

"Ooh, how about the Emperor's Curse," Draco suggested.

"That sounds pretty cool," Fred said.  "What does it do?"

"You all know the story 'The Emperor's New Clothes'?" Draco asked.  All but Seamus nodded.  "Finnigan.  I should have known.  Okay, the story is about a very vain Emperor who changed his clothes several times a day.  A couple of guys decided to take advantage of him and they told him they were excellent tailors.  They said they knew how to weave a cloth that was so fine and so light that it was invisible to all who were too stupid and too incompetent to see it.  And they said that not only would it be invisible, but also that they would weave in all sorts of beautiful colours and patterns.  The Emperor was impressed and paid them a lot of money to create a suit for him.  He thought that not only would he have an incredible outfit, but that he would also know which of his subjects were stupid and incompetent.  When the suit was done, he was embarrassed to find that he couldn't see it but of course he pretended that he could.  His subjects, in the town, demanded to see this new suit and so he was talked into a parade.  He walked through the streets naked, pretending that he could see the clothes, and all the people did not want anyone to know they were stupid or incompetent, so they pretended they could see it too."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Seamus asked.

Draco sighed a long-suffering sigh.  "The Emperor's Curse is a hex which makes a person's clothes invisible to all but the person wearing them.  If I were to curse Harry, he would see his robes, but we would see him in all his naked glory."

Harry blushed.

"You know a spell that would do that?" Justin asked, sounding impressed.

"Yeah, I learnt it when I was ten," Draco replied casually.

Harry looked highly suspicious.  "Have you ever used that spell at Hogwarts?"

Draco was offended.  "Of course not.  As if _I_ would ever do something so unethical."

"Then why are you suggesting we do so now?" George asked.

"This is fucking war.  Anything goes in a war," Draco snapped.

TBC


	14. The Sound Of Silence

~ Chapter 14 : The Sound Of Silence ~

The Great Hall

It was lunchtime.  The Slytherins were eating their meal, all feeling a tad uneasy, wondering if the Gryffindors had done something to their food.  Any minute now, they would play their prank and the Slytherins would be forced to act as if they thought it was funny.  It had annoyed the Gryffindors no end when the Slytherins had put on an enthusiastic performance, exclaiming happily over their green hair.  It was still green and they intended on keeping it that way, at least until the weekend.  

Harry chanced a glance over at the Hufflepuff table.  Ron was sitting with his back to Harry and was engaged in what looked like a serious discussion with Neville.  That was strange in itself.  Ron had never really had much time for Neville.  He'd always been too busy to bother with the accident-prone boy.  

Harry sighed.  As much as he was enjoying his growing friendship with Draco, he really missed Ron.  Of course, his relationship with Draco was very different to his relationship with Ron.  He didn't kiss Ron, for one thing.  Their relationship was totally platonic.  Draco offered a very different kind of friendship.  Nights were now spent in the same bed, whether it was his own or Draco's.  It was comforting, having the presence of another person lying beside him.  When he was woken by a nightmare, Draco was always there to hold him and brush away the tears that came unbidden.  Harry smiled.  Draco could be surprisingly tender when he wanted to be.  Although usually that was only at night, when they were alone, hidden away from the world behind the curtains around the bed.  Draco wouldn't allow that side of him to show in public, Harry knew and it made it seem all the more special because it was a side of Draco reserved for him alone.  Pet names were okay, they reinforced their relationship to the rest of the school and small, light touches here and there, but never anything more.  

Harry glanced sideways at Draco.  The blonde boy was arguing fiercely with Fred about the advantages of the new Apollo ™ broomstick over the now obsolete Firebolt ™.

Suddenly, a large number of the older Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stood up and pointed their wands at the Slytherins.  

Harry stared in shock as Ron pointed his wand directly at him and as one, the group standing up said an incantation.

"Reticeo vox vocis."

The Slytherins all glanced around at each other in bemusement.  Nothing appeared to have happened.  At least until Harry tried to talk to Draco.  He opened his mouth to comment on Ron's increasingly strange behaviour but no sound came out.

*

Draco's eyes widened as he watched Harry's mouth move, so he tried to speak.  Again, no sound.  The bastards had taken away their speech.

Draco shot up out of his seat and immediately started blasting the other three houses, who started laughing when nothing came out of his mouth.  Draco glared at them all and silently promised them retribution for this completely uncalled for prank.  Green hair was one thing, but taking away their speech?  That was going to far.

Of course, Draco would never mention the fact that if he had thought of the prank first he would have used it without a second thought.

He felt Harry's hand on his back and glanced down at him.

Sit down, Harry mouthed to him.  Draco cast one more fierce glare around the room before he slowly sat back down.  At least none of them were laughing anymore.  In fact some of them (mainly Hufflepuffs) were looking a bit worried that they had angered the blonde Slytherin so much.  

Let them worry, Draco thought angrily.  I hope they have fucking nightmares tonight.  

Obviously, lunch was a silent affair after that.  Finnigan laughed pretty much continually, although they couldn't hear him, they could see his shoulders shaking and a wide grin on his face.  

Draco glared at him too.  He knew the plan, they were supposed to be like Finnigan, acting like they loved the prank.  But Draco knew Finnigan wasn't acting.  He honestly thought the prank was funny.  It annoyed the hell out of Draco and he couldn't even tell Finnigan to knock it off.

Harry slipped his hand into Draco's and squeezed lightly.  Draco turned his gaze to the dark haired boy and sighed.  Harry smiled tentatively at him.

You okay? He mouthed slowly.  Draco attempted a small smile and nodded.  

Harry let go of his hand and started rummaging around in his bag.  Draco watched, curious to know what the former Gryffindor was doing.  Harry triumphantly pulled out a piece of parchment and something obviously muggle.  

Draco plucked the long, thin plastic thing from Harry's hand.  He gazed at it curiously and tried to figure out what it was for.

Harry was grinning at him, obviously amused by Draco's ignorance.  He scowled at Harry and thrust the thing back at him.

Harry wrote something with the muggle contraption and pushed the parchment across to Draco. **It's a pen**

Oh, Draco mouthed to Harry before rolling his eyes.  Like he cared what the muggle piece of shit was.  He watched Harry scribble some more and noted that the pen seemed to have ink inside it.  Handy little device, he thought although he would never admit it to anyone.

**Why are you so angry about this?  It's just a prank**

Draco scowled and grabbed the pen from Harry.  He mimicked the way Harry held the pen and scrawled down his reply.  It worked surprisingly well, this pen thing.

**It's just a prank that means we can't do our prank until they remove this jinx.  We can't use the Emperor's Curse if we can't say it!  Fuck, we can't even do our classes and we have Charms next.**

He watched Harry's eyes widen as he read Draco's response.  Obviously he hadn't thought about the implications of this little prank.

**Did you see Ron jinx me?**

**Yeah.  Don't worry, the little runt will pay for that.**

**I think I'll talk to Hermione later and ask why her boyfriend suddenly has it in for me.**

**Good idea, except it'll be a little hard to talk to her won't it.**

**Ha ha.  I'll write stuff down, idiot**

**Hey! Who are you calling an idiot?  **

**Stop sulking!**

**Fuck off**

**You fuck off**__

They grinned at each other.

**So are you going to **

Harry paused and Draco glanced up from reading the parchment.  He was amused to see Harry looking shy.  

What? He mouthed to Harry, who still had the pen.

**Sleep in my bed again tonight?**

No, he mouthed.

Draco watched disappointment flit across Harry's face before he took the pen and explained.

**I'm sick of always sleeping in your bed.  You're going to sleep in my bed tonight.**

Harry grinned at him and stuffed the pen and parchment into his bag.  Lunch was over and it was time for Charms.  

Draco automatically reached for Harry's hand as they followed Justin and Seamus to class.  He was glad they were taking things so slowly.  Although they hadn't spent a night apart since they found out they were soulmates, they hadn't done anything more than kiss and hold each other.  Hell, he hadn't even seen Harry naked yet.  They always wore pyjamas when they were in bed together.

Although he was starting to get a little frustrated.  Especially this morning, when he'd woken to find himself spooning Harry, his usual morning erection pressing up against Harry's pyjama clad arse.  It had taken all his willpower to pull away from Harry and go take a cold shower.   

The Library

That evening, Harry tapped Hermione on the shoulder as he sat down beside her at a table covered with enormous old texts.  

"Oh, hello Harry," Hermione said brightly as she smiled up at him.  Harry mouthed 'hello' and waved before pulling another piece of parchment and his pen out of his bag.

"Oh dear, you still can't talk?" Hermione said sympathically.

Harry shook his head as he scribbled down a note.  He passed it across to Hermione.

**Why is Ron so angry with me? **

Hermione sighed.  "He's jealous of Draco.  He thinks he's been replaced as your best friend."

Harry gaped at her and reached over to take the parchment back.

**That's stupid.  What Draco and I have, or might have eventually, is totally different to my friendship with Ron.**

"I know that," Hermione said after reading the note.  "But you know what Ron's like.  He and I had quite an argument about it after lunch.  I saw him jinx you.  He's so angry that he's not thinking straight."

**What did he say?  I'm sure he had some inspired words to justify his actions (in case you couldn't tell, I'm being sarcastic)**

"Sarcasm duly noted," Hermione said, smirking at him.  "He said that if you're going to choose Draco over him, then…"

Harry raised his eyebrows at her, hoping she'd take the hint and continue.  The way this jinx was going, he'd be an expert at non-verbal communication by the end of it.

"He said that if you chose Draco over him, then he was no longer your friend," Hermione finished sadly.

Harry stared at her, unable or unwilling to comprehend what she had just said.  He shook his head disbelievingly.  

**He's not my friend?**

"I'm sorry Harry, but he was deadly serious when he said it," Hermione said.  "I can't believe he'd act like that.  I mean, I've seen him talking to Pansy Parkinson a few times at the Hufflepuff table and we're still his friend even if he is chatting to a former Slytherin."

**I can't believe this.  It's the Triwizard Tournament all over again.**

Harry was shocked and dismayed by Ron's reaction to his burgeoning relationship with Draco.  I mean, fair enough, he has reservations, Harry thought, but surely he could keep them to himself and support me in this.  I would if he were dating someone I didn't like.  Did I say anything when I found out he was dating Hermione, even though I thought it was wrong for both of them?  No.  I stood by and supported them and kept my reservations to myself.  

"He really is being very childish," Hermione commented darkly.  "Can you believe he had the nerve to call me a traitor, just because I wouldn't join his side in this ridiculous prank war?"

**It's not ridiculous!  Just wait until you see what we've got lined up for those bastards….well, when we can actually say the incantation, that is.**

"I don't want to know, Harry," Hermione said wearily.  "Consider me Switzerland."

**Huh?**

"For God's sake, Harry, don't you ever read?" Hermione said exasperatedly.  "Switzerland is always neutral in wars and the like."

**Oh.  Well, you, Ginny, Lee and George are exempt from the next prank, but the rest of your house is not going to know what hit them.  And I'll thank you not to enlighten them when the time comes.**

"What on earth are you talking about, Harry?" Hermione asked, confused.  "Enlighten them about what?"

**You'll know when the time comes.  Well, best be off.  Draco and I are going to do some star charts tonight, up in the Astronomy Tower.**

"Oooh," Hermione said teasingly.  "The Astronomy Tower, the place of lovers."

**Shut up, Mione.  We share the same dorm room.  We hardly need to go to a cold, hard tower to be together.  Oh, that reminds me, what else do you know about this soulmates thing?**

"Not much," Hermione admitted, making a face.  Harry knew how much she hated not knowing things.  "I know that the bond between the two of you will grow stronger with time.  And I mean years.  It took Mr and Mrs Weasley about ten years before their bond was truly fixed between them.  Their sparks flew in Mrs Weasley's second year and Mr Weasley was in fourth year.  Now they have a sense about the others well being, according to Ginny.  She said her mother always knows when her father is particularly upset, even if he's not at home."

**That doesn't sound too bad**

Hermione looked cagey.

**What?**

"Well, it's not bad, per se," she said, biting her lip apprehensively.  "It's just that, well, when you and Draco…uh…"

Harry was startled to see Hermione blushing.

**WHAT?**

"When you…consummate your relationship, the bond will instantly strengthen immeasurably.  It could even be the impetus to cement it completely," Hermione explained.  "And in some cases, it can result in some rather unusual changes."

**Consummate?  What does that mean?**

"I'm not a walking dictionary," Hermione snapped.  "Go look it up for yourself."

Harry was hurt that she would snap so suddenly at him.  Was it his fault that he grew up with ignorant people who wouldn't read anything unless it was a sensational tabloid newspaper?  How was he supposed to expand his vocabulary with those idiots as his guides?

Hermione sighed a long-suffering sigh.  "I'm sorry Harry, but I'm not explaining that one to you.  If you need a lecture on the birds and the bees, then go talk to Snape.  He's your Head of House."

Harry was horrified by the suggestion and hurried off to find a dictionary.  He flicked through the A's and B's and finally found what he was looking for:

**con·sum·mate ****Pronunciation (k n s -m t )  
tr.v. ****con·sum·mat·ed, ****con·sum·mat·ing, ****con·sum·mates**

To complete (a marriage) with the first act of sexual intercourse after the ceremony. To fulfill (a sexual desire or attraction) especially by intercourse. 

Oh, Harry thought after reading it.  That's why Hermione wasn't about to explain.  Well, that was fine by him.  He certainly didn't want to hear about the intricate details of sexual intercourse from Hermione.  Particularly not since she was a straight female and he was a gay male.  He was a bit hazy on the details, but he rather thought that there might be a bit of a difference between sex with a man and a woman and sex with two men.

Now all he had to do was find out what she meant by 'unusual changes'.  Harry shelved the dictionary and turned to walk back to the table and ask her what she meant, but Ron had joined her.  Harry watched them for a moment and noted the defensive body language of Ron and the pained expression on Hermione's face and decided to leave that conversation for another time.  Besides, Harry thought as he glanced down at his watch, it was almost time to meet Draco.

TBC

A.N. Translations of the jinx the other houses used on Slytherin – 

reticeo -ere intransit. [to keep **silence** , say nothing]; transit. [to keep silent about].

vox vocis f. [**voice** , cry, call; accent, language; sound, tone; a saying, utterance]. 

All found from a useful little site – 

http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookdown.pl?

It translates any word into Latin.  Great for making up your own spells.


End file.
